DUBUQUE — Scoring 17 of a possible 18 points, the Central College men's tennis team thumped the University of Dubuque 9-0 and Loras College 8-1 Sunday afternoon.
           
The victories solidified Central (6-2, 6-2 American Rivers Conference) as the third-place team in the conference standings and as the No. 3 seed for the conference tournament.
           
"This was probably the most complete tennis I've seen this team play," coach Ryun Ferrell said. "We're getting better each match and hitting our stride at the right time."
           
Central swept all three doubles matches against both teams. The No. 1 pairing of William Isiminger (senior, North Aurora, Ill., West Aurora HS) and Brad DiLeo (junior, Iowa City, West HS) won 8-4 (Dubuque) and 8-6 (Loras). David Boschma (senior, Olathe, Kan., Northwest HS) and Trey Melvin (senior, Lawrence, Kan., Free State HS) registered 8-1 (Dubuque) and 8-3 (Loras) wins. Tanner Finken (junior, Carroll) and Ethan St. John (senior, Crystal Lake, Ill., Central HS) had 8-1 (Dubuque) and 8-5 (Loras) victories.
           
"To do that against Loras is not easy," Ferrell said. "They've got some good double teams so we had to play well to do that. All of our doubles pairing really stepped it up and went after them."
           
Against Dubuque, Caleb Hamerlinck (sophomore, Huxley, Ballard HS) made his first appearance in the varsity lineup and recorded a 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 6 singles.
           
"He stepped right in and took care of business," Ferrell said. "It was a great day for him."
           
The Dutch won all of the singles matches in straight sets. Isiminger was 2-0 at No. 1 singles and was followed by Boschma (No. 2), Finken (No. 3) and DiLeo (No. 4) who all went 2-0. Melvin was a 6-0, 6-0 winner at No. 5 against Dubuque and a 6-3, 7-6 winner at No. 6 against Loras. St. John won 7-6, 5-3 at No. 5 against Loras.
           
Central will host the first round of the conference tournament on Tuesday, May 4.