KINGS POINT, N.Y.  -  In their yearly face-off with their United States Merchant Marine Academy counterparts, Coast Guard tennis picked up a strong 6-1 victory over their service academy rivals to sing last and snap a three-match losing streak.

Coast Guard improves to 2-9, while Merchant Marine moves to 2-3. The Mariners will battle Skyline Conference foes Sarah Lawrence College (2-3) in their next one on April 12th.

The Bears started on the right foot by earning the doubles point with a 2-1 series win. Sophomore Ben Bonetto (Bend, Oreg.) and junior captain Brendan Love (Winchester, Va.) took a 6-4 victory at the #1 court while the pairing of junior Benjamin Carlander (Monument, Colo.) and sophomore Noah Reice (Wilmington, Del.) were 6-3 winners on #3.

Bonetto improves his individual record to 6-3 with a 6-4, 6-1 victory at the top court, while Love earned his second singles record with a 6-0, 6-3 win at #2. Also picking up his second victory of the season was Carlander, taking the #5 match with scores of 6-2, 6-4.

Freshman duo Anthony Gregoire (Hagatna, Guam) and Konnor Eslinger (St. Charles, Mo.) bounced back from their doubles loss by picking up a pair of wins in continuing their strong first-year campaigns; Gregoire, at #3, took won a 7-6 tiebreaker in his first set before putting the second set away at 6-3, while Eslinger dispatched his opponent at #4 with scores of 6-4 and 6-2.

Bears tennis returns to New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action tomorrow with a match at Clark University (Mass.). The Cougars have built a 4-9 overall record and are 1-2 in-conference, and the Bears picked up a strong 7-2 win in last season's meeting.