Riverside, Calif.— The UC Riverside Men's Tennis Team (7-10) won its third straight match Friday afternoon defeating Villanova 6-1. This win streak is a season best for the Highlanders.

"This was a great win for us beating a very strong team," said Head Coach Mattias Johansson. "Winning the doubles point today really helped our efforts."

UCR would come away with two doubles wins to seal the first point of the match and take a 1-0 lead. The freshman duo of Pawel Jonkowiak and Vignesh Subramanyan took a dominant 6-2 win on court one and the team of Nabil Abdallah and Anderson Ju would seal the doubles round with a 6-3 victory on court three.

In the singles round the Highlanders won on five courts, including three straight set victories.

Subramanyan was the first to finish sweeping his opponent on court six 6-1, 6-2. Gilbert Chung would follow with a 6-2, 6-3 win on court five and UCR would clinch the overall match as Abdallah took court four in straight sets of 6-4, 6-2. 

After falling in the first set, both Benjamin Kichherr and Jankowiak would battle back to force a third set and take home the win. On court two, Kichherr grabbed a 3-6, 7-5, 10-7 victory, while Jankowiak won another court one match 1-6, 6-2, 7-5.

"Pawel has really stepped up as a true #1 player," Johansson said. "He is 3-0 in singles this week and won two doubles matches, which is what a coach hopes for, and he has done just that."

The Highlanders are back in action Monday morning as they will host  a doubleheader featuring Bucknell and Concordia Irvine starting at 9:30 AM.