The seniors on the Coe men's tennis team came to win Saturday.

For their first competition outside in almost a month at the Clark Racquet Center, the Kohawks beat Simpson 9-0 Saturday afternoon with an all-senior lineup for their second shutout of the day.

Earlier Saturday morning, the Kohawks blanked the University of Dubuque, 9-0.

Seniors Michael Janssen and Sean Stokstad played No.1 doubles against Simpson, coming out on top in a tough match, 8-5.

Coach Eric Rodgers was happy with the Kohawks' performance.

“First doubles with Simpson was good,” he said. “Simpson was playing with - as they should have been - with nothing to lose, so they were playing near their best.”

The Kohawks had to persevere to win some of the tougher matchups.

“I think the toughest thing was we were playing quality opponents,” Janssen said. “We were playing good people under windy, sunny conditions.”

The weather cooperated for the most part, with the sun coming out and warming things up as the day went along. Coe raised its records to 18-4 overall and 4-0 in the Iowa Conference.

Rodgers was glad the team was outside again and playing quick matches.

“It was good. If there were any two players I wanted to be on the court today a long time outside it was Mike and Sean,” he said.

While the Kohawks played well, the shutout against Simpson did not come easy. A tough doubles match and a third-round tiebreaker for Daken Starkenburg at No.3 singles that started with him down 1-5 showed that mental toughness was a necessary component.

“This afternoon Simpson had three very good players and we got four good matches out of it. Everybody was competitive,” Rodgers said.

For Janssen, it’s important to focus on that mental aspect. “I just worry about what I can control, which was my attitude and my effort, and I didn’t try to focus on the result of winning or losing because you aren’t in the moment and you can’t play well,” he said.

Moving forward, their mental game will be increasingly important.

“We play Luther at Luther Saturday and that’ll be for the conference title, in all likelihood, the de facto conference title,” Rodgers said.

“We have a really tough season coming up,” Janssen said. “Everyone I think from now on is a ranked opponent in the region, and we have to travel a lot. We have a lot of tough opponents on the road, so we have to be prepared and ready to go get it.”

COE 9, DUBUQUE 0

Singles

1. Alex Bernt (C) def. Dishon Deering, 6-0, 6-0.
2. Zack Decker (C) def. Nikolay Gospodinov, 6-0, 6-2.
3. Mark Kroll (C) def. Brandon Kroeger, 6-2, 6-0.
4. Alex Leovic (C) def. Sean O'Meara, 6-0, 6-0.
5. Tyrin Wages (C) def. Andrew Drummond, 6-0, 6-0.
6. Bill Young (C) def. Trevor Calahan, 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles

1. Ryan Hickman/Michael Janssen (C) def. Deering/Calahan, 8-0.
2. Bernt/Kroll (C) def. Gospodinov/Drummond, 8-0.
3. Leovic/Jeff Damisch (C) def. Kroeger/O'Meara, 8-0.

COE 9, SIMPSON 0

Singles

1. Sean Stockstad (C) def. Zach Kusick, 6-3, 6-1.
2. Janssen (C) def. Spencer Hook, 6-0, 6-2.
3. Daken Starkenburg (C) def. Peter Reitgraf, 4-6, 6-4, 10-7.
4. Alex Klaas (C) def. Dylan Hogan, 6-2, 6-1.
5. Leovic (C) def. Geoff Converse, 6-1, 6-0.
6. Tyler Wilson (C) def. Mike Rundle, 6-0, 6-2.

Doubles

1. Stokstad/Janssen (C) def. Kusick/Reitgraf, 8-5.
2. Damisch/Leovic (C) def. Hogan/Converse, 8-1.
3. Starkenburg/Klaas (C) def. Hook/Rundle, 8-1.