Rui Silva had an astonishing debut for the UNO men's tennis team. The freshman from Portugal won all five of his matches in singles' competition to claim the 'Flight 3' bracket of the Big Easy Classic.

On the road to the title, Silva did not drop a single set.

The freshman defeated three players from Southland Conference rival Nicholls State including Siddarth Sivakumar 6-3, 6-1 in the championship match. His other wins over the Colonels included Evan Karatzas (6-3, 6-0) in the first round and Manel Estruege (6-4, 6-2) in the semifinals

Silva's other victories were over teammate David Malmgren (6-2, 7-5) in the 'Round of 16' and Tulane's Coby Kramer (6-2, 6-3) in the quarterfinals.