Win over King gives C-N Men’s Tennis first victory on the season
Following a challenging start to the season, the men’s tennis team refocused to grab the 4-3 victory over the Tornado. With the win C-N improves to 1-2 on the year.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Following a challenging start to the season, the men's tennis team refocused to grab the 4-3 victory over the Tornado. With the win C-N improves to 1-2 on the year.
Carson-Newman Men's Tennis has fallen in a few tight matches to start the season, but finally secured the coveted win they were looking for, and it took all seven points to solve.
"I called out and challenged our guys to be better today in multiple ways. For the most part, they answered the call," said head coach Nate Gangelhoff. "Getting the doubles point is always huge and we have a very strong top three guys to help us get over the edge."
The afternoon began with a win for the Eagles in the doubles point. Louis Keenan and Max Stollecker paired together at first doubles for the third time this season and grabbed their second win of the year in that spot. With a 6-2 score, the sophomores' double record moves to 2-1 on the year.
Darko Kolevski and Giancarlo Rosario landed at second doubles. This was the pair's first time playing together this year, but they were nonetheless successful, taking a 6-4 win. The final doubles pair for the Eagles was Leonard Baecker and Wade Donovan, who were down 5-6 when the doubles point was secured and their match went unfinished.
Louis Keenan was in the first singles slot for the Eagles. This was his first time in the singles lineup this season, and he entered 2026 with a punch. The sophomore took down King's Danny Neleman 6-2, 6-1 to put C-N up 2-0.
Leonard Baecker was at second singles for C-N, and grinded out a tiebreak win to give the Eagles a 3-0 lead. Baecker lost his first set 2-6, but took that as a challenge. The second set he won 7-5, and downed Mar Meshel in the tiebreaker set 10-6.
In the fourth and fifth singles matches, C-N fell. Wade Donovan lost 2-6, 3-6. The freshman has yet to record a win in the singles lineup. Giancarlo Rosario also dropped his match 1-6, 4-6. Boris Jordanov was in the final slot in the singles lineup for C-N. He also fell 3-6, 2-6. Jordanov is 1-2 in his singles matches this season. His lone win is in the 4th singles slot.
With three points going the Tornado way, it was the transfer Max Stollecker who also grabbed a singles win. He only gave up four games at third singles for a 6-3, 6-1 win. Carson-Newman would hang on to win 4-3. Stollecker is 2-0 in his singles matches this season.
"We still lack focus in crucial moments, but we were lucky it didn't cost us the match," said Gangelhoff. "Proud of their fight, we still have a long way to go where we truly want to be."
With this win, Carson-Newman moves the all-time series against the Tornado to 2-5. They have to regroup for tomorrow for their final match of the weekend, beginning at 11:00 AM. C-N will take on Young Harris in Harrogate, Tennessee at LMU's Tennis facility. For updates, follow @CN_Eagles on X and Instagram, or Carson-Newman Athletics on Facebook. Full coverage is also available at cneagles.com.
