HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman men's tennis team picked up its first win of the season in a 6-3 victory over Martin Methodist at the Lincoln Memorial Roundup at the LMU Tennis Complex.
The Eagles (1-4) garnered back-to-back doubles wins to open the day, marking the first time this season that Carson-Newman did not face a deficit heading into singles play.
The No. 3 duo of Rodolfo Schwarz (Brazil) and Joseph Stiles (New Oxford, Pa.) started the day an 8-5 win in their first match together followed by a close 8-7 victory for Marc Bantel (Urbach, Germany) and Taylor Barie (Woodstock, Ga.) at the second-seed.
This was the first win together for Bantel and Barie this season.
Martin Methodist (1-7) took the No. 1 match as Nicolas Galleguillo and Raphael Monzione defeated Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Jesus Bacete-Sanz (Madrid, Spain), 8-7.
"I thought we competed well at every position," head coach Jean Love said. "Doubles gave us a good start. Taylor and Marc came back from 7-4 down to win in a tiebreak. Rodolfo and Joey played really well to win our first point of the evening."
Singles play opened up with a RedHawk win over Stiles at the third position in a three-set thriller. Stiles won the first set, 6-3, but dropped the following two, 6-1 and 12-10.
With the match tied 2-2, Bantel gave C-N the lead again at the No. 2 spot. The junior fell 6-3 in the first match to Galleguillo before taking a 6-2 decision in the second, forcing a tiebreaker which Bantel won, 10-3.
The top-seeded match of Quesada and Dabdab saw Quesada take a 6-2 first set before Dabdab forced a third set with a 7-5 win. The final set fell in favor of Martin Methodist, 10-5, tying the match one last time before Carson-Newman took the outright lead.
Schwarz faced Monzione at the No. 3 spot, falling in the first set 3-6. He forced a tiebreaker with a 7-5 win in the second set before a 10-3 tiebreaker gave him the win.
At the No. 5 matchup, Bacete-Sanz won in back-to-back sets, 6-3 and 7-5, cementing the victory for the Eagles heading into the final match of the day.
Barie, the fourth-seeded Eagle, took a pair of 7-5 sets to end the night.
"We had strong performances in singles," Love mentioned. "The guys really wanted this win, our first of the season."
Carson-Newman now gets to enjoy a few days away from competition after a busy week of action. The Eagles take the court on March 3 as the team hosts Bellarmine. First serve is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
