Bulldogs bite too much for Eagles

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman men's tennis team was unable to break a four match losing streak to Tennessee Wesleyan on Friday afternoon.

 "This is a tough defeat because we could have won this match." Carson-Newman tennis coach Jean Love said, "We dropped all three doubles after being up at No.1 and even in the other doubles. It seems that when it gets to the crucial moments in the middle of the doubles sets, we just don't get it done. We make the unforced error or we miss the easy volley that would have turned the momentum in our direction." 

 

Carson-Newman (1-3) got off to a rough start dropping all three doubles matches to begin the afternoon. The No.1 doubles tandem of Joao Pedro Oliveria (Brazil) and Gabriel Dabdab (Brazil) lost 8-6 to Tennessee Wesleyan (3-0). Stefano Daza (Venezuela) and Marc Bantel lost 8-4 at No.2 doubles, while Rodolpho Schwarz (Brazil) and Jesus Barcete (Spain) dropped the final doubles match 8-5.

 

Going into singles play the Eagles needed to win five matches to win the contest against the Bulldogs. Oliveria started things off in a positive manner for the Eagles with a straight sets victory (6-4, 6-4) over Borja Perez at the No.1 singles position.

 

Schwarz won his first match of the 2017 season after an 0-3 start in singles play. The junior had to come from behind after losing the first set 7-6, he won the final two sets 6-2, 6-1. Dabdab and Kevin Mendes (Chattanooga, Tenn.) closed out singles play with straight set victories at the No.5 and No.6 singles positions.

 

Daza and Bantel were the only two Eagles to fall during singles competition on Friday afternoon. Bantel lost 6-2, 7-5 at the No. 3 singles position and Daza fell 6-2, 6-3 at the No.4 singles position.

 "We win four of the six singles matches but still lose the tennis match." Love said, "That's just unacceptable and the guys know it. This defeat hurts bad but it should motivate us to never let this happen again."

The Eagles will try and rebound with win over Anderson on Sunday afternoon. Match time is set for 2:00 p.m. at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.