WILMINGTON, N.C. - UNCW capped a perfect 3-0 week in the "Battle of the Beach" with a 5-1 decision over New Orleans in men's tennis action Saturday at the UNCW courts.

      The Seahawks, who also topped Samford and Drake in the three-team event, won their third straight to improve to 10-4 this spring. The Privateers dropped to 2-9.

      The 75th-ranked Seahawks dominated the mini-tournament, losing only two matches in the three contests against Samford, Drake and New Orleans.

      In Saturday's triumph, Illia Ziamtsou and Kosta Blank crushed UNO's Guilherme Rebolo and Abdelrahman Zaki, 8-2, at the No. 2 position  and Max Ando Hirsh and Kinshuk Sharma clinched the doubles point after fighting off two match points in a 7-6 (6) verdict over Ben Smith and Stepan Siska.

      UNCW went 4-1 in singles for the easy win, picking up victories at No. 1, No. 2, No. 5 and No. 6. Michael Pereira won his fourth straight singles match with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Siska at No. 1 singles and Alex Wetherell also extended his winning streak to four matches with a 6-0, 6-3 destruction of Zaki at the No. 5 position.

      "I was very pleased with how our team responded this week after losing some tight matches last week," said third-year coach Mait DuBois. "To win our Battle at the Beach event means a lot to us, and we really take pride in playing at home. I feel very good about going the whole week without dropping a doubles match and going 15-2 in singles. This week gives us some good momentum going into our conference matches."

      The Seahawks kick off a three-match road swing to Virginia next Saturday (March 27) with an 11 a.m. date at Colonial Athletic Association rival VCU.