JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman men's tennis team will look to end Tusculum's two match winning streak on Wednesday afternoon.
"Another tough conference match for us this week against Tusculum." Carson-Newman tennis coach Jean Love said, "We have some momentum going into the match after defeating Catawba on Sunday afternoon."
Carson-Newman (4-5, 3-2) is coming off of a weekend split against Wingate and Catawba. The Eagles lost to Wingate on Friday night, before edging out Catawba 5-4 on Sunday afternoon. Tusculum (9-4, 4-1) is also coming off of a victory against Catawba. Last season the Eagles lost 8-1 to the Pioneers.
Joao Pedro Oliveria (Brazil) leads the way for the Eagles at No. 1 singles with a 6-5 record. Fellow countrymen Gabriel Dabdab (Brazil) is exceling on the court during his freshman campaign with a 6-3 record. Dabdab plays primarily at the No. 5 singles position, the duo have also acquired a 5-2 record in doubles play this season.
Kevin Mendes (Chattanooga, Tenn.) is currently riding a four match winning streak for the Eagles at the No. 6 singles position. The junior has an overall record of 6-1 and a conference record of 4-1.
The Eagles are still trying to find some success in the middle of the lineup with Rodolfo Schwarz (Brazil), Stefano Daza (Venezuela) and Marc Bantel (Germany). Schwarz is currently riding a three game losing streak, Daza has a two match losing streak and Bantel lost his previous match on Sunday afternoon.
In doubles play the duo of Daza and Schwarz won their first match of the season at No.1 doubles. They were previously 0-6 going into the Catawba matchup. The No.3 doubles combination of Bantel and Jesus Bacete-Sanz (Spain) are 2-4 on the season and are currently riding a two match losing streak.
Tusculum is led by Tomas Kmetko who is 6-1 on the year in No. 1 singles and is 3-0 in conference play. At the No. 2 singles position is Yago Fernandez who 7-4 overall on the season and is 5-2 at the second position.
Toby de Klerk and Eduardo Munoz round out the No. 3 and No.4 singles positions. De Klerk has a 6-3 overall record, while Munoz is 7-3 overall and 4-0 in conference play. The Pioneers have not been able to settle on a No.5 or No. 6 singles player, as a variety of players have played in both positions.
In doubles action the Pioneers have a pretty stout duo at the top of their lineup. The No. 1 doubles tandem of De Klerk and Kmetko are 6-4 on the year and are 3-1 in conference play. The No. 3 doubles duo of Fernandez and David Siegle are 5-0 in conference play coming into the midweek matchup.
The No. 2 doubles combination of Tashique Kader and Leon Seiz have struggled of late losing two consecutive matches. The tandem is 5-5 on the year coming into the matchup against the Eagles.
-CN-
