At a time when the Southwest Men's Tennis Team needed to ramp-up its play, the Bears not only answered the call but in a big way, topping the No. 24 East Central Warriors 5-4 Friday in not only the home opener but also the conference opener. While the men picked up the big win, the women unfortunately fell, 9-0.
 
After the match, Southwest head coach Dean Clower expressed elated with excitement over his men's (2-1, 1-0 MACCC) accomplishment and added that despite the loss, his women's (0-3, 0-1 MACCC) team is showing signs of improvement.
 
"We've had some great practices, long practices and the attitude of the guys and girls on the team is awesome," he said. "Today they got a taste of the fruit of their labor."
 
In men's play the No. 1 Doubles team of Mansur Khajimuradov and Manan Kumar won their match 8-4. The same can be said for the No. 2 Doubles team of Juan Riano Cifuentes and Cameron Leon who also won their match 8-4.
 
In singles play, Khajimuradov won his No. 1 Singles match 6-1, 6-2. No. 3 Singles Cifuentes also won his by a score of 0-6, 6-1, 6-2 and No. 6 Singles Thomas Simpson helped Southwest seal the victory in his match, winning 6-1, 6-2.
 
After the match, Cifuentes talked about overcoming a slow start to win.

"First of all, I want to say thank you to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," he said. "It was a crazy match. I lost the first set, and I couldn't even walk. In the second set, I felt like I had (do my part) to get the victory for the team, and I started moving better. (Helping) to get the victory is incredible."
 
Southwest returns to action on Tuesday with a 2:00 p.m. road match at Holmes.