NEWPORT, R.I. — 

The United States Coast Guard Academy tennis team earned their first win of the 2026 season on Saturday, April 4th, with a 5-2 final at New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) rivals Salve Regina University. The Bears swept at doubles before going 4-for-6 at singles.

Coast Guard improves to 1-4 on the season and 1-2 in NEWMAC play, while the Seahawks stay winless overall and against league foes at 0-10 and 0-3. Salve will look to bust both slumps on Friday, April 10th, at Wheaton College (6-4, 0-2).

The Bears opened the day by going 3-0 at doubles. Ben Bonetto (Bend, Oreg.) and Brendan Love (Winchester, Va.) put up a 6-1 result at #1 against Colin Fleet and Jesper Jensen, and Benjamin Carlander (Monument, Colo.) and Logan Kwon (University Place, Wash.) did the same at #3 against J.J. Hawkshead and Rei Otake. Konnor Eslinger (St. Charles, Mo.) and Noah Reice (Wilmington, Del.) secured the sweep at #2 by grinding out a 7-5 win over Jacob Faulise and Kole Pinto.

Carlander opened singles play with a 2-0 (6-1, 6-2) defeat of Otake at #5, and Bonetto followed at #1 with a pair of 6-2 wins against Faulise. Jensen got one back for Salve with a win on #3, but Kwon clinched it for the Bears with a 6-4, 6-3 win on #6. Pinto secured another point for the Seahawks on #2 before Eslinger wrapped the day with a three-set win on #4 against Fleet. The Seahawk took the first set, 6-3, but Eslinger earned his win with a 7-6 (7-4 tiebreaker) victory in set two and a 10-2 win in set three.

Bears tennis will look to make it back-to-back wins on Tuesday, April 7th, when they travel to Springfield College (6-5, 2-0) for a 3:30 PM ET start. The Pride secured all seven points to take last year's meeting in New London.