KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City (8-10, 3-0 Summit) handed the Western Illinois (7-14, 1-1 Summit) men's tennis team its first Summit League defeat, 7-0, despite several hard-fought battles on Saturday afternoon at the Plaza Tennis Center.

In No. 3 doubles action, the combination of Mitch Granger and Ben Yue won by an 8-7 (7-2) margin. The Roos took both first and second doubles, though, to clinch the doubles point.

"We knew it was very important to win the doubles point. Mitch Granger and Ben Yue played some good tennis to win at #3 doubles. However, this has been our problem all year," head coach Chris Kane said. "We seem to be able to put one doubles team together that wins, but lose the other two matches. Different players at different positions have stepped up at times, such as Bradley Holt and Christoph Haertel at both #1 and #2 doubles, but we've had trouble finding multiple teams to win doubles matches in the same team match."

In singles play, Bradley Holt, Max Cederkall and Granger each took the first set, but Kansas City battled back to win in all three.

Holt fell 5-7, 6-4, 10-4 at No. 3 singles, while Granger lost 5-6, 6-2, 6-4 at No. 5 singles. Cederkall's contest was even closer, falling 6-7, 6-4, 10-7 at No. 6 singles.

Christoph Haertel (6-2, 7-5 at No. 1 singles) and Patrick Hammers (6-3, 6-4 at No. 2 singles) also fell in tight matchups.

"We hung in there pretty well against UMKC, the team that has dominated the Summit League for the past few years," Kane added. "If we win the three matches at #3 (Bradley Holt), #5 (Mitch Granger), and #6 (Max Cederkall) singles, where we won the first set but lost each in three close sets, it's a 4-3 nailbiter instead of a 7-0 loss. But, you win or you lose in tennis, so that's small consolation."

The Leathernecks will return to Macomb for their home opener on Wednesday, as both the men and women's teams host Saint Louis at 2:30 p.m.

"We're in the middle of our conference matches, so we have to put this one behind us and get ready for IUPUI next Saturday," Kane said.

Kansas City 7, Western Illinois 0

Singles competition
1. Nino Hasandedic (UMKC) def. Christoph Haertel (WIU) 6-2, 7-5
2. Abdul Alawadhi (UMKC) def. Patrick Hammers (WIU) 6-3, 6-4
3. Grant Fleming (UMKC) def. Bradley Holt (WIU) 5-7, 6-4, 10-4
4. Tomas Patino (UMKC) def. Ben Yue (WIU) 6-1, 6-1
5. Andrey Smirnov (UMKC) def. Mitch Granger (WIU) 5-6, 6-2, 6-4
6. Tim Akhmedov (UMKC) def. Max Cederkall (WIU) 5-7, 6-4, 10-7

Doubles competition
1. Grant Fleming/Tomas Patino (UMKC) def. Bradley Holt/Patrick Hammers (WIU) 8-3
2. David Heckler/Abdul Alawadhi (UMKC) def. Christoph Haertel/Brandon Meeker (WIU) 8-5
3. Ben Yue/Mitch Granger (WIU) def. Tim Akhmedov/Nino Hasandedic (UMKC) 8-7 (7-2)