NEWBERRY, S.C.—The Carson-Newman men's tennis team fell to 0-2 on the season as the Eagles lost its first road game of the season to South Atlantic Conference foe Newberry 8-1 Sunday afternoon in Newberry, S.C.
"Unfortunately, we just never could get our teeth into the match," coach Jean Love said following the loss. "We struggled in doubles play to begin the match."
The Eagles (0-2, 0-1 SAC) failed to get anything going on early in the match as the team dropped the opening three doubles sets to the Wolves (12-1, 5-0 SAC) to begin the afternoon.
J.P. Oliveira (Brazil) and Stefano Daza (Venezuela) teamed up once again as Carson-Newman's No. 1 doubles pairing. The duo battled throughout, but ultimately fell to a pack of Wolves 8-6 to give Newberry its first point of the match.
Juan Sebastian Perez (Ecuador) and Kevin Mendes (Woodstock, Ga.) came in next in the second-seeded set of doubles play and fell to their counterparts 8-4 in the dual. Marc Bantel (Germany) and Jordan Knott (Louisville, Ky.) also lost 8-4 as C-N's No. 3 paring in doubles.
Already down 3-0 upon entering doubles play, the Eagles desperately needed a quick turnaround to climb back into the match.
Oliveira did just that as the juniors kicked off singles play with a 6-4, 2-0 win in the No. 1 set.
That would be all the scoring Carson-Newman could come up with on the day as the Eagles dropped the final five sets in singles following Oliveira's win.
Perez fell 6-4, 7-6 (1) at No. 2 and Daza followed up with a 6-1, 6-0 loss in the bronze-round of singles play. Bantel came up short at No. 4 6-1, 6-2, and Mendes came out on the losing end of a 6-1, 6-4 matchup in the fifth-seeded set.
Carson-Newman concluded its day after a 9-7 Barcete defeat in the final singles set at No. 6.
"J.P [Oliveira] was a bright spot in singles. He turned in a solid performance winning at No. 1 singles." Love said. "Juan [Perez] battled at No. 2 singles by losing two close sets. Jesus [Barcete] and Kevin [Mendes] turned in a couple of competitive sets. Other than those performances, we were not very competitive today."
The Eagles will take one day off before jumping right back into SAC play as Carson-Newman hosts arch-rival Tusculum Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
To keep up with everything Carson-Newman tennis related, follow us online at cneagles.com.
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