JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – On the heels of a senior day loss to Tusculum, the Carson-Newman men's tennis team now readies itself for one final match of its 2018 campaign with a road trip to South Atlantic Conference foe Queens on Saturday for a meeting with the 15-ranked Royals.
The Eagles (3-12, 1-8 SAC) fell 7-2 on senior day despite starting the day with a 2-1 lead through doubles action. Once the turn of the afternoon headed toward singles play, the Pioneers took control winning all six matches, five were decided in straight sets.
With no current winning streaks on the singles side for the Eagles, the doubles pairing of Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Jesus Bacete-Sanz (Madrid, Spain) currently hold the most consecutive wins on the season for C-N at five straight. Splitting time at the top-two positions, they have played most of their matches at the No. 2 spot, taking a 5-3 record there. They have only seen one loss in their three matches at the top-seeded position.
The loss moved the Eagles into tenth in the conference standings and leaving them out of the SAC tournament. They are just one spot above a Mars Hill team that has not seen a SAC win this season.
Queens (8-3, 7-1 SAC), on the other hand, is one match outside of the top spot in the conference, a position held by No. 14 Wingate.
The Royals come into the contest on a five-match winning streak, including victories over then-No. 10 Wingate and 31st-ranked Tusculum within the past couple of weeks. Their most recent win came against Lenoir Rhyne on Wednesday in a 6-3 decision.
Andor Vas and Agustin Aran Martin, ranked 54th in the nation, have split time this season at the No. 1 singles position with 4-4 and 3-2 records respectively. Aran Martin has the best winning record on the team at 9-2 with one win at the No. 2 spot and a perfect 5-0 showing as the third-seed. The sophomore currently holds an eight-match winning streak heading into Saturday.
In doubles play, Julian Bosch and Joel Dunlap have been the most reliable duo at the top position with a 6-3 record in matches played there. They split both of the matches they played together at the two-spot, however.
With a 16-2 record last season, a perfect 11-0 against conference opponents, head coach Billy Boykin's team was projected to finish the season at the top of the SAC standings with eight first-place votes. As the top seed in last year's SAC tournament, the Royals defeated Newberry and Wingate to clinch the conference crown before losing to Barton 5-4 in the NCAA Southeast Regional Tournament.
Since 2014, the Eagles and Royals have faced off four times with Queens winning all of the meetings. Most recently, the Royals left Mossy Creek in 2017 with an 8-1 victory, ending C-N's season on a sour note.
Saturday's match will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Queens Sports Complex in Charlotte, N.C.
