JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—The Eagles fell in their second South Atlantic Conference match of the season as Coker took down Carson-Newman 7-2 Friday afternoon at Mossy Creek.
"We played well in spots but Coker was just too good for us," coach Jean Love said following the match. "Juan [Sebastian Perez] and Stefano [Daza] got a big win in the first doubles match and then JP [Oliveira] battled and lost a very competitive match at No. 1 singles. Kevin [Mendes] also turned in a solid performance in a win in the fifth singles match."
The Cobras (4-6, 2-1) began the afternoon by taking two of the three doubles matches from the Eagles (1-5, 0-2).
Aside from Stafano Daza (Venezuela) and Juan Sebastian Perez's (Ecuador) 8-5 win at No. 1 doubles, Carson-Newman would drop the other two as Joao Pedro Oliveira (Brazil) and Jesus Barcete (Spain) fell 8-2 in the second match and Kevin Mendes (Woodstock, Ga.) and Lee Presson (Crossville, Tenn.) lost 8-3 at No. 3.
Singles play would not get much better at Coker took five of the six matches from the Eagles in the second round of play.
Oliveria would kick things off for Carson-Newman in the first-seeded contest by losing 6-3, 6-4 to the Cobra's top-player. Perez would then follow in the second-seeded match, losing 6-0, 6-3 to Tom Sizeland, while Daza battled a court over in the No. 3 match to come up short handed at 6-1, 6-0.
Mark Watt and Felix Schweyer would follow by taking care of Marc Bantel (Germany) and Barcete in the fourth and sixth-singles matches. Bantel lost 7-5, 6-2 while Barcete fell 7-1 in one set of action.
Carson-Newman's lone victory in singles play came at the hands of Mendes in the No. 5 slot. The sophomore made quick work of Henrik Hellbe by winning 6-6, 6-1 in two sets.
Following an off day on Saturday, the Eagles will return to action Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. in search of their first SAC win of the season with a home matinee against Lenoir-Rhyne.
A complete recap following Sunday's contest can be found on cneagles.com and stay tuned into to @CNathletics on twitter for tennis updates throughout the season.
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