JEFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman men's tennis heads to Tusculum on Wednesday to take on the Pioneers for their fourth conference match of the season.
The Pioneers are 7-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play. At the beginning of the season, they were projected to finish in fifth place in the South Atlantic Conference and sophomore Gabriel Yaguar was a second-team selection in singles.
The Eagles are coming off of a close loss against the Newberry Wolves just two days ago on their home courts. The match came down to the last two singles positions that ended up going into three sets each, but only Marc Bantel (Urbach, Germany) was able to get his win and Rintaro Oka (Narita, Japan) fell. Despite the loss, the Eagles are improving, but coach Jim Frederick continues to preach that they have to step up in close situations.
"They know they can play with anybody," Frederick said. "I think it's a matter of knowing that you're on the same level but knowing that they have to get the job done when it gets close."
As far as the lineup goes, Frederick said the doubles teams will be switched around in the match against the Pioneers. So far this season, the Eagles have not won a doubles point since their shutout win against Virginia Wise on Feb. 10. The last time they won a single doubles match is when Bantel and Victor Ireno won at No. 3 on Feb. 28 against Tennessee Wesleyan.
"The guys had a pretty good practice yesterday," Frederick said. "We're going to change some doubles situations. We haven't won a doubles point yet and there's no reason not to change because we can only do better not worse."
The Eagles are set to start at 1 p.m. on Wednesday on the refurbished courts at the Nichols Tennis Complex in Greeneville, Tenn.
For more information and updates head back to cneagles.com.
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