WINGATE, N.C.- The Carson-Newman men's tennis team have capped off the first fall tournament for the 2021-22 season in the Wingate Fall Invitational. The two-day event was capped off for C-N with two individual championships by a pair of newcomers to the CNMT program.
After securing his first two victories as an Eagle, freshman Marnix Van Dalen (Netherlands) saw a spot in the men's "blue" singles East finals Sunday. His opponent would be Florian Walcher. The freshman from the Netherlands was deemed the winner of the "blue" draw after his opponent had to withdraw due to injury.
Van Dalen played his way to Sunday's final with wins over Gabriel Constantino and Marko Sudar. Both of his Saturday victories were straight set results as he won 6-4, 6-1 over Constantino before sweeping Sudar 6-3, 6-0.
Freshman Richard Dulganov (Hungary) looked to end his first fall appearance on a high note against Matteo Gostoli in the men's "purple" singles East finals. Much like his freshman peer, Van Dalen, it was a no-contest and walk-over win for Dulganov on Sunday. Gostoli was deemed injured so the victory was given to C-N's freshman.
Dulganov made his way to the East finals after securing victories over Mitchell Davies and Hugo Nossler on Saturday. The freshman was able to secure a straight set victory over Davies before battling to a 4-6, 7-5 (10-7) result over Nossler.
"A very profitable weekend for both girls and guys," graduate assistant Gabriel Dabdab said. "The level of competition was great and everyone, no exceptions, did what we asked them to do in order to be competitive in all matches."
Looking to continue his impressive debut for C-N, sophomore Lars Hordijk (Dordrecht, South Holland) saw action in one more match on Sunday. It was Hordijk against Tyler Juergens on Sunday as the Eagle claimed his third straight victory of the fall with a 6-1, 6-3 result.
This allows Hordijk to finish his time at the Wingate Fall Invitational with a perfect 3-0 record. He started off with victories over Joseph Phelan (6-0, 6-1) and Cohen Sechrist (6-1, 6-0) on Saturday before finishing up with the matchup with Juergens.
Junior Marc Janse (Zeewolde, Netherlands) finished his fall tournament debut in 2021 in the men's "blue" 3-4 playoff against Marko Sudar. After defeating Alex Turner on Saturday before losing to Florian Walcher.
Sunday saw the Netherlands native earn a straight set victory 6-1, 6-0 over Sudar on Sunday to win the 3-4 playoff.
Fellow junior Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) completed his time at the Wingate Fall Invitational in the men's "green" 3-4 playoff. After sweeping action against Marco Garofalo 6-1, 6-0, Waterbolk was handed a 6-2, 6-7 (4) (10-8) loss to Federico Spinetta. This set up a 3-4 playoff matchup against Nolan Smith on Sunday.
Waterbolk was once again able to sweep his opponent, this time by a 6-3, 6-3 result.
Senior Rintaro Oka (Narita, Japan) was in action as part of the men's "red" draw South finals against Paul Dekester. Saturday saw Oka face Edis Nokic in the first round, but he was sadly defeated which put him in the South finals Sunday.
In the matchup against Dekester, it was Oka claiming a 7-5, 6-2 victory to end his two days of action. The senior will now look to secure a spot in the upcoming ITA regionals for Carson-Newman.
In doubles, it was the pairing of Janse and Hordijk going up against Brown and Walcher on Sunday. The quartet faced off in the men's "blue" doubles 3-4 playoff as it was Brown and Walcher claiming the victory. However, the duo did see their fall season start with a win over MacMillian and Winter Saturday.
In the same "blue" doubles draw, Van Dalen and Oka teamed up against MacMillian and Winter in the South finals. The Eagles were handed a loss with a 6-4 result in favor of their opponents. This marked the second straight loss for the duo to start the fall as they also were defeated on Saturday in doubles.
The Carson-Newman men's tennis team returns to action and will compete in the ITA Regionals from September 24th to 27th as the Eagles look to continue their impressive start to the fall season.
Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman men's tennis at cneagles.com and via all of C-N's social media platforms.
