CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College men's tennis team won five of six singles matches and all three doubles matches to defeat Bloomfield College, 8-1 Thursday evening at the Caldwell Tennis Courts. The victory, which is the team's first of the 2006 season, improves the Cougars to 1-3.

Juniors Chris Costa (Montville, NJ/DePaul Catholic), pictured, and Chris Laciura (Teaneck, NJ/Paramus Catholic) and freshman Mike Ober (Lavellette, NJ/Point Beach) each earned straight-set victories at first, second and fifth singles, respectively. Sophomore Jan Marco Jiras (Lima, Peru) improved to 3-1 on the season with an 8-0 super set win over Jared Hillman at No. 6 singles, while sophomore Amir Zandieh (Tehran, Iran/Montville) outlasted Dave Bauman at No. 4 singles, 2-6, 6-4, 10-6.

The Cougars started the dual with a dominating performance in doubles, losing just one game in the three matches combined. Caldwell's top doubles tandem of Costa and Laciura, as well as the No. 3 team of junior Marcus Collins (Brooklyn, NY/Cobble Hill) and Ober, blanked their opponents 8-0. Jiras and Zandieh won their match over Bauman and Bhaumak Patele at No. 2 doubles, 8-1.

Next up for the Cougars is a home dual with the University of Sciences on Saturday, Apr. 8, beginning at 12:00 p.m. at the Caldwell Tennis Courts.

Caldwell 8, Bloomfield 1
Singles
1. Chris Costa (C) def. Bhaumak Patele, 6-1, 6-1
2. Chris Laciura (C) def. Rick Adams, 6-0, 6-1
3. Ben Warehime (B) def. Marcus Collins, 6-3, 6-1
4. Amir Zandieh (C) def. Dave Bauman, 2-6, 6-4, 10-6
5. Mike Ober (C) def. Jonathan Torres, 6-2, 6-4
6. Jan Marco Jiras (C) def. Jared Hillman, 8-0

Doubles
1. Costa/Laciura (C) def. Adams/Warehime, 8-0
2. Zandieh/Jiras (C) def. Patele/Bauman, 8-1
3. Collins/Ober (C) def. Torres/Kenny Bayer, 8-0