ORLANDO, Fla. -- The men's tennis matchup between the No. 16-ranked Kenyon College Owls and the No. 40-ranked Carthage College Firebirds took a bit to get going as the competition was spread out over two days. Though the Owls started in a minor deficit on Monday, Kenyon came out on top on Tuesday, securing a 7-0 sweep.

Kenyon's win extended the team's stellar start, marking an eighth straight victory for the 8-0 Owls. The mark is the program's longest unbeaten streak to start a season since the 2007-08 campaign, breaking a tie with the 2018-19 squad that won seven straight before their first loss. This year's Owls have some work to do to catch the 2007-08 Kenyon team though, as that group opened the season with 15 straight wins and finished with a 25-2 record that tied for the program's all-time record for total wins (25) and marked Kenyon's best winning percentage (.926) since an 8-0 campaign in 1976.

The Owls whipped up three similar doubles scores as all three duos won to sweep the best-of-three doubles point. The No. 1 pairing of Paulo Pocasangre Kreling and Alejandro Gonzalez matched the No. 3 duo of Gianluca Bocanegra and Rohan Sriram with 6-3 decisions, bookending Eric Zhang and Josh Finkle's 6-4 win at No. 2.

Kenyon swept five of the six singles matches in straight sets, and the Owls secured the 7-0 sweep with wins across the lineup. Pocasangre Kreling (6-2, 6-1) and Gonzalez (6-0, 6-2) led the way, taking care of business in the top two spots.

Juozas Cioladis clinched a comeback win in the No. 3 spot, bouncing back from a 6-2 set-one loss to force a third-set tiebreak. The first-year finished off the win with a 10-8 decision in the tiebreak, capping off the 2-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-8) victory.

Zhang won 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4, while Finkle fired off a 6-1, 6-1 win in the fifth flight. Rakkan Audeh added to the sweep by winning a battle at No. 6, outlasting Diego Silva 7-5, 6-3.

The victory over No. 40 Carthage (6-4) also marked Kenyon's second win over a ranked opponent this season. The Owls have one more matchup left on their Florida slate, a tough test against No. 5-ranked Case Western Reserve University on Wednesday, March 12, at 11:30 a.m. at the USTA National Campus.