Eagles unable to withstand Mountain Lions
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In what was expected to be a tough match, the Eagles were only able to muster one last-chance match point as the Carson-Newman men’s tennis team suffered its first loss of the season with an 8-1 deficit against Young Harris on Tuesday afternoon at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In what was expected to be a tough match, the Eagles were only able to muster one last-chance match point as the Carson-Newman men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season with an 8-1 deficit against Young Harris on Tuesday afternoon at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
The match moves the Eagles to five-consecutive losses against the Mountain Lions.
"One thing that stood out was just the spirit and the effort that this team showed," head coach Jean Love said of her squad. "They gave no matter what, and that's important. Tennis-wise, yes we have things to work on, but, sometimes, the heart, soul, effort and team spirit can be some of the most difficult things to work on, but I saw a lot of that today."
Carson-Newman (0-1) fell to a quick 3-0 deficit by the end of doubles play. The third-seeded duo of Marc Bantel (Urbach, Germany) and Kevin Mendes (Chattanooga, Tenn.) took an 8-1 loss to the Mountain Lions' Ignacio Ascarrunz and Javier Villar. At the No. 1 spot, Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Rodolfo Schwarz (Brazil) faced a shutout loss to Alex Pavel and Guilherme Sergio, 8-0.
The No. 2 match saw a much closer contest with Young Harris' Tim Fleerkamp and Mateo Besada taking a two-point edge over C-N's Jesus Bacete-Sanz (Madrid, Spain) and Taylor Barie (Woodstock, Ga.).
"We've got some work to do on the doubles side, but our No. 2 team was right there," Love said.
The Mountain Lions (2-0) kept momentum on their side heading into singles action as Pavel took the advantage in straight sets over Bantel, 6-4, 6-2 and the No. 2 spot.
Schwarz at the No. 3 spot fell in two sets to Pavel with 6-3 and 6-2 decisions.
In the first-seeded singles face-off, Dabdab dropped back-to-back sets to Mateo Besada 7-5 and 6-3.
"I thought Gabriel played a really nice match," Love said. "It was tough, really tough."
The No. 4 and No. 5 matches saw C-N's Mendes drop a one-setter to Villar, 8-1 while Barie's one-setter ended in a Young Harris victory by Fleerkamp, 8-2.
The final single match that was played was at the No. 6 spot with Bacete-Sanz winning the only game C-N would come out victories in with an 8-3 decision over Ascarrunz.
"Jesus played really nice today. He became the shot-maker and I was pleased with that," Love mentioned. "Everyone else had spurts today, but nothing really consistent so we do need to work on that."
Next on the docket will be another home match, this time the Eagles hosting Lee University. That meeting is set for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
