JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Despite holding a 2-1 lead through doubles action, Carson-Newman could not contain its lead as the Eagles fell to No. 31 Tusculum, 7-2, in Tuesday afternoon's senior day faceoff.
The loss brings Carson-Newman (3-12, 1-8 SAC) to six-straight regular season finale losses that were played at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex. The Pioneers (14-6, 5-4 SAC) have now won nine straight against the Eagles since 2010.
"I loved the fact that we set the tone early by winning two out of three doubles," head coach Jean Love said. "We just didn't have enough fire power in singles.
"I couldn't be prouder of the guys due to their effort."
The top-seeded senior duo of Rodolfo Schwarz (Brazil) and Kevin Mendes (Chattanooga, Tenn.) took a close 8-6 decision over Tashique Kader and Gabriel Yaguar that was followed by a win at the No. 2 spot as Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Jesus Bacete-Sanz (Madrid, Spain) were victorious over Toby de Klerk and Yago Fernandez with an 8-4 advantage to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
Dabdab and Bacete-Sanz have now won five-straight matches when paired together.
The first loss of the day for C-N came at the third-seeded doubles position as Marc Bantel (Germany) and Taylor Barie (Woodstock, Ga.) fell 8-3 to Marco Meon and Eduardo Munoz to cut the Eagles lead in half heading into the evening round.
Dabdab took his first set against Meon in the No. 1 singles match 6-2 before Meon answered with a 6-4 win to force the third set tiebreaker. Meon held the advantage 6-3 to tie the day at twos while pushing Dabdab's losing streak to nine-straight.
From that point on, it was all Tusculum.
Bantel fell in straight sets to Tomas Kmetko, 6-2 and 6-3, at the No. 2 spot before senior Barie fell in his last match at home in 6-0, 6-1 decisions to Fernandez at the three-seed.
In the No. 4 match, Mendes dropped a pair of sets to Kader, 6-4 and 6-2 before Bacete-Sanz did much of the same at the fifth-seed with 6-4, 6-0 losses to Jorge Cervantes.
Joseph Stiles (New Oxford, Pa.) made his seventh appearance at the No. 6 spot this season but fell to Yaguar in back-to-back 6-1 sets.
The Eagles will close out their season with a Saturday road trip to Charlotte, N.C. to take on the No. 16 Royals of Queens. That match holds a first serve time of 1 p.m. from the Queens Sports Complex.
