MARS HILL, N.C.—The Carson-Newman men's tennis team snapped its three-match losing streak by taking down Mars Hill 7-2 on the road for its third South Atlantic Conference victory of the season.
"Great effort today by the guys," coach Jean Love said following the match. "We took two of the three doubles matches to start strong in the afternoon. Marc [Bantel] and Juan [Perez] came through with quick singles wins and then J.P. [Oliveira] clinched the ream victory with a strong performance at No. 1 singles."
The Eagles (6-9, 3-6) made quick work of the Lions (4-12, 1-8) in doubles play to begin the afternoon. The only hiccup C-N experienced in the round of play came atop the lineup in the first-seeded doubles contest when Stefano Daza (Venezuela) and Juan Sebastian Perez (Ecuador) fell 8-6.
Jesus Barcete-Sanz (Spain) and Joao Pedro Oliveira (Brazil) picked up a win at No. 2, 8-5, while Kevin Mendes (Woodstock, Ga.) and Lee Presson (Crossville, Tenn.) followed suite at No. 3, winning 8-3.
Momentum would carry over into singles play as the Eagles took the first two contests in the round.
Oliveira kicked things off in the first-seeded contest by taking down Alberto Ortiz 6-0, 6-4 and Perez quickly followed with another win at No. 2 over Markus Gattner 6-2, 6-2.
The win in the second round of action was Perez's seventh in-a-row. The junior has not lost a singles contest since losing to Lenoir-Rhyne's Tom Hons 6-7, 4-6 on March 16.
Ben Reid would then stop the skid for the Lions by taking down Daza 6-1, 7-5 in the third-seeded contest for Mars Hill's second team-point of the match.
The Eagles would then slam the door shut by winning the final three matches in singles play to finish off the afternoon.
Marc Bantel (Germany) defeated Carlos Suares Riesco 6-3, 6-1 while Mendes took care of Sam Lee 6-3, 6-2 at No. 5.
Barcete-Sanz would then cap off the afternoon of play with an 8-5 win at No. 6 over Alejandre Ozaki.
Carson-Newman will return to action on April 6 with a noon serve time at Reinhardt for non-conference play.
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