WAVERLY, Iowa - Wartburg men's tennis hosted its first spring match of the 2020-21 season and suffered a 6-3 defeat against the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Sunday, Feb. 21 inside the Hoover Fieldhouse. The contest marked just the second time the two schools have met in the past seven years. 

The Knights went down early when they dropped two of the three doubles competitions and were unable to close the gap in singles play. The duo of freshman Jackson Eells and junior Lucas Huffman secured the lone doubles victory for Wartburg at the No. 1 position. The Marion, Iowa native Huffman went on to win his No. 1 singles battle in straight sets while Eells took care of business in his singles match at the No. 2 spot. With the victories, Huffman moved to 4-2 on the year while Eells improved to 2-3. As a team, the Knights are now 19-17 in singles play and 8-10 in doubles. 

Singles Competition
1. Lucas Huffman (WAR) def. Alex Alt (UWL) 6-3, 7-5
2. Jackson Eells (WAR) def. Riley Peterson (UWL) 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 (10)
3. Alex Moore (UWL) def. Cade Davis (WAR) 6-2, 6-4
4. Cole Contardi (UWL) def. Nile Petersen (WAR) 6-1, 6-2
5. Sam Diedrich (UWL) def. Hunter Gerhardt (WAR) 6-1, 6-1
6. Joshua Williams (UWL) def. Jared Hefel (WAR) 6-0, 6-2

Doubles Competition 
1. Lucas Huffman/Jackson Eells (WAR) def. Charlie Parish/Riley Peterson (UWL) 8-4
2. Alex Alt/Alex Moore (UWL) def. Cade Davis/Nile Petersen (WAR) 8-4
3. Joshua Williams/Grante Wolfe (UWL) def. Hunter Gerhardt/Jared Hefel (WAR) 8-6

Up next, Wartburg (3-3, 0-1 A-R-C) will hit the road and travel to Moline, Ill. for a nonconference matchup against Augustana College (0-0, 0-0 CCIW) at the Quad City Tennis Club with first serve set for 5:45 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26.