Moline, Ill. --- University of St. Francis opened its spring season in nearly identical fashion to the way it started its fall season scoring an 8-1 victory over St. Ambrose University (Iowa) Saturday morning at the Quad Cities Racquet Club.

In its lone dual match during the fall, the Saints posted a 9-0 blanking of Bethel College (Ind.).

USF (2-0) opened Saturday's match with a sweep of its three doubles matches starting with an 8-4 win for seniors Luis Oliveira (Seward County CC, KS/Sao Lourenco, Brazil) and Scott Surges (Providence Catholic H.S./Joliet, IL) at the No. 1 spot. Juniors Jacob Quigley (Saint Xavier University/Joliet, IL) and Jakub Szymanski (Bethany College, KS/Poznan, Poland) collected an 8-5 victory in the No. 2 position, while junior Erick Dobrzynski (Moraine Valley C.C./Justice, IL) teamed up with newcomer Nikola Milenkovic (Anglo American School of Belgrade/Belgrade, Serbia) for an 8-3 win in the final doubles match.

Surges, Oliveira, Quigley and Dobrzynski also won their respective singles matches, joining in with freshman Andres Stecher (Pestalozzi H.S./Buenos Aires, Argentina), who scored a 6-2, 6-2 victory in the No. 5 spot.

The Saints take the next week off before hosting neighboring rival Lewis University Feb. 9 at the Challenge Fitness Tennis Courts. The match is slated for a 12:30 p.m. start.

NOTES: Three Saints find themselves ranked in the latest ITA ratings.  In the East region, Jakub Szymanski is positioned in the No. 7 singles slot, while Luis Oliveira and Scott Surges are No. 5 as a doubles team … Saturday's win was the 599th of head coach Jim Trudeau's career between the high school and collegiate levels.  Trudeau is in his 7th season at St. Francis after an illustrious career at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, where he captured 533 victories.