ST. LOUIS - The Webster men's tennis team dropped a 9-0 decision here Thursday at the Tao Tennis Center to Washington University in St. Louis. 

With the setback, Webster falls to 2-6 on the season, while WashU improved to 3-1 on the year. Thursday's match was the first against the two schools that are located off of Big Bend Blvd. since 2013. 
 

In Thursday's match, the Gorloks just two games against the Bears and both of those game wins came in singles.

WashU opened the match by winning all three doubles matches by identical 8-0 scores. It marked the first time this season the Gorloks failed to win at least one game in doubles play. 

Meanwhile, in singles play, the Bears swept all six matches as they won all but two games in the match that lasted 70 minutes. 

The Bears won four of the six singles matches by 6-0, 6-0 scores, but senior Riley Muren (O'Fallon, Mo./Illinois-Springfield) and freshman Matthew Birchmeier (Swartz Creek, Mich./Flushing) prevented a clean sweep in singles as Muren won a game in the second set at No. 1 singles as he fell 6-0, 6-1 to Ethan Hillis and Birchmeier won a game in the first set at No. 3 singles against Guarav Singh. 

Webster will look to return to the win column on Friday, March 2 as they travel to Fulton, Mo., for a 2 p.m. match against Westminster (Mo.) College. The match will be the first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match of the season for the Gorloks.