MARS HILL, N.C. – A sweep of doubles play and a pair of straight-sets wins to open singles play helped Carson-Newman pick up its first South Atlantic Conference win of the season as the Eagles defeated Mars Hill, 5-4, on Thursday afternoon at the Hart Tennis Complex.
The win marks the end of a seven-match losing streak for the Eagles (3-11, 1-7 SAC) and gives them their first South Atlantic Conference victory of the season. Mars Hill (4-11, 0-8 SAC) is now the only team in the conference without a SAC win to its name. Both teams are now tied at 5-5 for the series record this decade.
"The guys came out and started well winning all three doubles," head coach Jean Love said. "This was huge for us."
Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Jesus Bacete-Sanz (Madrid, Spain) started the early C-N onslaught at the top-seeded doubles position with an 8-3 win over Ben Reid and Rodrigo Ramos. Dabdab and Bacete-Sanz now hold a four-match winning streak.
Teaming up for the first time this season, Joseph Stiles (New Oxford, Pa.) and Kevin Mendes (Chattanooga, Tenn.) did much of the same at the No. 3 spot against the Lions' pairing of Kyrel Trim and Pedro Pinassi as C-N's duo picked up an 8-3 victory.
A closer match was to be had at the second-seeded position. Marc Bantel (Germany) and Taylor Barie (Woodstock, Ga.) went into a tiebreaker against Fernando Neto and Tom Farman with the Orange and Blue tandem escaping with an 8-7 win. Their victory ended their two-match losing skid and put the Eagles up 3-0 heading into the latter part of the afternoon.
Bantel opened singles action with a demanding 6-0, 6-1 straight-set victory over Ramos at the No. 2 spot. In third-seed play, Barie was challenged by Neto in the first set, but Barie was able to edge out a 7-5 win that led to a strong 6-0 shutout in the second set to quickly give the Eagles the 5-0 lead they needed to win the day.
Barie's win halts a seven-match losing streak that the senior had been enduring.
The rest of the day was controlled by the Mountain Lions, but it was too little too late for them.
In the top-seeded singles match, Dabdab fell in the first set to Reid 6-3 before bouncing back in the second set to take a 6-3 win of his own to force a third-set tiebreaker. The final set mirrored the first as Reid walked away with a 6-3 victory, cutting the C-N lead 5-1.
Dabdab has now lost eight-straight matches.
Bacete-Sanz fell in the No. 5 spot where he took on Trim in an 8-3 decision that was closely followed by another 8-3 score, this time with Pinassi taking a win over Stiles at the sixth position.
The final match of the day came at the No. 4 slot with Mendes taking on Farman. Mendes conceded a 6-3 score in the first set before forcing a third set thanks to a 6-3 set win. In the final set of the entire day, Farman held the 10-8 decision, to finalize the score with a 5-4 C-N advantage.
Mendes' loss marks the end of his four-match winning streak.
With Friday's originally scheduled home exhibition match against Spartanburg Methodist being cancelled, the Eagles now turn their eyes toward a home match against Tusculum on Tuesday. That match is set to begin at 2 p.m. at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
