The Denison men's tennis team opened its North Coast Athletic Conference slate with an 8-1 victory over Wittenberg on Tuesday in Granville.

Dominate doubles play gave the Big Red an early 3-0 lead.  The regionally-ranked team of Tyler Cempre and Matt McErlean doubled up Sergio Fishkin and Sasha Topolyanskiy, 8-4, at the first flight.  Seniors Tim Martin and Tom Cawood, and freshmen Casey Cempre and Grant Veltman also picked up wins at second and third doubles.  Both teams recorded 8-1 decisions.

In singles action, Cawood and McErlean picked up straight-set wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively.  Cawood defeated Ian Streicker 6-0, 7-5, while McErlean posted a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Alexey Topolyanskiy.  In fourth through sixth singles, Tyler Cempre, Veltman and Andrew Marczak all won in two sets.  Cempre ran his current winning streak to seven, while Marczak won his fifth-consecutive match.

DU improves to 8-1 overall and 1-0 in the NCAC West, while the Tigers fall to 11-5 and 0-2 in conference play.  Denison returns to the court on Sunday at Kalamazoo.  Match time is slated for 9 a.m.