JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Marnix Van Dalen and Marc Janse get first-round byes as Carson-Newman begins action at the ITA Regionals.
Janse receives a first-round bye for the second year in a row. Last year, Janse advanced to the round of 32 after a 6-0 and 6-1 performance in the previous round but couldn't make it any farther.
"We've been conditioning after practice twice a week," Janse said. "'Our coach has been tough on us, and that's been helping us a lot. It's been tough in the hot weather, but I think we'll be ready for four days of action."
Van Dalen will see his first piece of action Friday in the round of 64 at 3:00 P.M. Last year, Van Dalen made it to the round of 32 but was unable to compete any further due to injury.
Gjorgji Jankulovski will begin play for the Eagles at 9:30 A.M. He will go up against Hugo Nossler of Wingate University. As a freshman last year, Jankulovski played into the round of 32 but fell in his first set 6-2 and could not finish his second set after falling behind 2-0.
Lars Hordijk plays at 10:00 A.M. on Friday against SAC rival Tyler Juergens of Catawba College. Javier Crespo will also compete against a SAC rival in Zachary Cox of Lenoir-Rhyne University at 10:00 A.M.
Senior Rintaro Oka is the third Eagle to play at 10:00 A.M. on Friday. He will be matched up against Johan Holgersson of Barton College.
Ids Waterbolk will wrap up the round of 128 singles action for the Eagles. He will play Robin Eldin of Tusculum University at 10:30 A.M.
Carson-Newman will have three pairs competing in duos action on Friday. Jankulovski and Waterbolk will begin action for the Eagles at 8:00 A.M. to face off against Diego Ortega and Bram Poel of The University of Mount Olive. The winner of that match will face off against the 16th seed.
Janse and Hordijk also play at 8:00 A.M. when they face off against Elios Briand and Oliver Winterhagen of The University of Mount Olive. Janse and Hordijk last played together in day two action at the Lincoln Memorial Invitational. The pair won both sets they played in with scores of 7-6 and a tie-breaking set of 7-1.
"Lars and I were doubling all of last year, so we know what each other like, what we don't like, and what we have to do to win," Janse said. "The guys have been putting in the work in practice and have been talking about how we need to play to be our best."
Javier Crespo and Oka Rintaro will finish doubles action for the Eagles when they face Bernado Peralta and Torben Brinkmann from Coker University at 8:00 A.M. If the Eagles come away victorious, they will move on to play the seventh-seeded duo on Saturday morning.
For more updates on the Men's tennis team, follow @CN_Eagles on Twitter, or visit CNEagles.com.
