LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Coming into play at the Biola Tennis Center on Tuesday afternoon Biola Men's Tennis wanted to remind the nation that they still plan to be a force to be reckoned with in NAIA tennis.
 
A 9-0 victory over Principia College (Ill.) sent that exact message as Head Coach Brent Worthington's team got back in the win column for the first time since March 1.
 
"Today was an important match for us," said Worthington. "We have been struggling a bit lately as a team and today we did the small things right. Everyone played well to win their match."
 
The Eagles won all five of the first singles matches to come off the courts to clinch the match early, but it was that sixth singles match to finish that was perhaps most impressive of all.
 
Lucas Lee was locked in an intense battle with Joey Sander at No. 1 singles. Lee struggled in the first set as he fell behind early with a 2-6 loss to the Panthers' top player.
 
However, the sophomore dug in and overcame an early set two disadvantage to force a tiebreaker set to decide the match. Lee won that tiebreaker 10-8 to get his ninth singles win of the season and improve to 9-1 in the last 10 matches.
 
"I was particularly proud of Lucas who struggled mightily compared to how he has been playing but he didn't give up and found a way to win even on an off day," said Worthington.
 
The rest of Lee's teammates finished off their singles opponents in straight sets and in rather quick fashion. Michael Vartuli was especially impressive as the first one off the court after his 6-3; 6-1 singles win at No. 6.
 
With the match already in hand the Eagles breezed right through the three doubles contests and won all three in a convincing manner. Now, six of the Eagles' seven singles players are riding winning streaks and four of the five doubles pairings Worthington has employed this season are doing the same.
 
Biola will look for much of the same tomorrow afternoon as it hosts Washington College (Mary.) at 2:30 p.m. at the BTC. The Eagles improved to 5-7 on the season while Principia dropped to 1-5.