ANDERSON, S.C.—The Carson-Newman men's tennis team suffered a 6-3 setback to South Atlantic Conference foe Anderson Friday afternoon to conceive its fourth conference loss of the season.
"Today was a tough loss for the men. We did not play poorly and all doubles teams were close," coach Jean Love said. "We have just got to win some of the big points late in the pro set."
The Eagles (5-7, 2-4) were coming off a 7-2 win over non-conference opponent North Greenville that took place on March 23, but could not keep pace with the Trojans (9-4, 6-1) who tallied their sixth conference win of the season.
Carson-Newman fell behind early by dropping two of the three matches in doubles play.
Lee Presson (Crossville, Tenn.) and Kevin Mendes (Woodstock, Ga.) did pick up a win in the third-seeded contest, 8-4, but Stefano Daza (Venezuela) and Juan Sebastian Perez (Ecuador) lost 8-6 at No. 1 and Joao Pedro Oliveira (Brazil) and Jesus Barcete (Spain) fell 8-2 in the second round contest.
Needing to gain some momentum at the top of the lineup card in singles play, Oliveira and Perez did just that for the Eagles.
The senior Oliveira picked up a win in the leadoff spot for Carson-Newman, taking down Alijaz Cajzek 4-6, 6-0 and 6-4 in three sets. Perez quickly followed with another win at No. 2, 7-6, 6-2.
Anderson would then win the final four matches in the round to capture the 6-3 conference win.
Daza dropped the No. 3 contest 6-3, 6-4 to Nicolas Ascarrunz and Marc Bantel (Germany) came up short against Juan Carracedo 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4.
Mendes would then loss the fifth contest 6-4 in two sets to Inaki Irberri and Barcete came up short in the sixth contest 7-6, 6-4.
"In singles, we competed well but could only manage to win the first two," Love said. "We had some hard fought matches at No. 5 and 6, but we just came up short."
Carson-Newman will be back in action at home on March 29 with a matchup against Catawba at the friendly confines of the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
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