SUPERIOR, Wis. – The Yellowjacket men's tennis entered play Sunday with one goal and one goal only – win two matches and clinch the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) North Division championship.
 
The Yellowjackets won the UMAC regular season championship in 2022, and last season were champions of the north division. With a pair of wins Sunday, the Yellowjackets would make it three titles in a row, and add another trophy to the case at the Marcovich Wellness Center.

Mission accomplished.

The Yellowjackets had little difficulty Sunday, cruising past Crown and Martin Luther by identical 9-0 scores at the Yellowjacket Outdoor Tennis Complex.

With the wins the Yellowjackets (13-8, 4-0 UMAC) swept play through the conference's North Division and will be a No. 1 seed at the UMAC Championships next month. The wins also extended the Yellowjacket winning streak to five.
 
In the first match of the day the Yellowjackets wasted little time jumping out to an early lead, sweeping the doubles matches. Bobby Powless (Flora, Ill./Flora) and Brandon Chu (Rogers, Minn./Rogers) won at No. 3 doubles, 8-1. At No. 2 doubles, Jacob Zacharias (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) and Miles Dempsey (Golden, Colo./Green Mountain) won by an identical 8-1 score.
 
It was more of the same in the six singles matches, as the Yellowjackets won every match in straight sets. Yash Chhabra (Jaipur, Rajasthan/Sanskar School) (No. 3 singles), Zacharias (No. 4 singles) and Chu (No. 5 singles) all won by scores of 6-0, 6-0.
 
Match One Notes

• Ren Kurachi (Yokohama, Japan/Yokosuka Gakuin) and Igor Guetten Chaves (Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil/Colégio Adventista) teamed up for an 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles. The pair is now 11-7 in doubles play.
• Sharan Kanugovi's (Bangalore, Karnataka/New Baldwin International School) win at No. 2 singles was his 18th of the season, leading the Yellowjackets.
• In addition to his win in doubles play, Powless also won in singles, 6-0, 6-3 in the No. 6 slot, to improve to 3-0 for the season.
• Zacharias and Dempsey are unbeaten as a doubles team.

The strong play continued in the second match of the day for the Yellowjackets. They made quick work of Martin Luther in doubles action, sweeping the matches. Zacharias and Chu were paired at No. 2 doubles and rolled to an 8-0 win. Davide Pelletti (Prado, Brazil) and Kanugovi won at No. 1 doubles, 8-1.
 
In singles play the Yellowjackets quickly got through the Knights, winning all six matches in straight sets. Leading the way were Kurachi at No. 1 singles and Guetten Chaves at No. 2 singles. Each won their match by 6-0, 6-0 scores.
 
Match Two Notes

• Lucca Paladini (Blumenu, Brazil/Colegio Saber) won 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3 singles, a victory that pulled him above .500 for the year. His mark is 11-10.
• Chhabra won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 4 singles, giving him double digits wins on the year.
• Vitor Sakakibara (São Paulo, Brazil/Colégio Saber) won for just the second time this season in singles play, rolling to a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 6.
• Zacharias picked up his 11th singles win of the season, tying him with Paladini for the second-most on the team.

The Yellowjackets will close out the 2023-24 regular season with a non-conference match at home against UW-Eau Claire. The first serve is set for 4 p.m. Friday, April 26 at the Yellowjacket Outdoor Tennis Complex.
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