JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—The Carson-Newman men's tennis team dropped a South Atlantic Conference contest to Catawba 6-3 Tuesday afternoon at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex, to begin a three-match sector in the week.

"This was a difficult day," coach Jean Love said following the loss. "We just did not play well in doubles and it cost us.  We had good effort and fought back in singles to split the singles matches."

The Indians (9-9, 4-4) began the day by sweeping all three doubles matches to command a 3-0 lead over the Eagles (5-8, 2-5) heading into singles play.

Stefano Daza (Venezuela) and Juan Sebastian Perez (Ecuador) led things off for Carson-Newman with an 8-5 loss in the first doubles contest. Joao Pedro Oliviera (Brazil) and Jesus Barcete (Spain) followed suit with an 8-6 loss at No. 2 while Kevin Mendes (Woodstock, Ga.) and Lee Presson (Crossville, Tenn.) capped off the round with another 8-6 loss in the third-seeded contest.

Jack Mordey would then gain another point for Catawba after beating Oliveira 6-1, 7-6 in the first round of singles action. Perez would then put the Eagles on the scoreboard first with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 2.

Daza would follow with a 6-2, 6-3 loss in the third-seeded contest while Marc Bantel (Germany) took down Lucca Picca 8-4 to gain another team-point for the Eagles.

Mendes would then drop a three-set match at 6-4, 4-6 and 6-4 in the No. 5 slot. Barcete would then conclude the day for Carson-Newman with a win in the sixth singles match, 9-7 over Catawba's Iago Montero Nunez.

Tuesday's loss is the second in-a-row for the eagles and the squad has lost three of their last four outings.

Carson-Newman will have another opportunity to make up ground in the SAC standings as the squad hits the courts again Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at Lincoln Memorial.

-CN-