VIDEO: Carson-Newman coach Jim Frederick previews the University of the Cumberlands Tournament
WILLIAMSBURG, KY – The Carson-Newman men's tennis team will travel to the University of the Cumberlands tournament in Williamsburg, Kentucky tomorrow, Saturday October 5th at 9 a.m.
The team looks to improve upon a trip to the International Tennis Association Southeast Regional qualifiers in Sumter, South Carolina last weekend where they saw five victories in doubles and singles play but just as many losses.
Freshman Marc Janse (Zeewolde, Netherlands) has the chance to win a match in his first three collegiate appearances after beating Isaac MacMillan 6-2, 6-2 in his last tournament appearance in Sumter.
"He learned kind of what level this conference is when he lost to a Wingate player," Carson-Newman coach Jim Frederick said. "Played well, played really well. But what he's got to work on is a little bit more variety. He has kind of a one way of playing and when that one way matches up to the other person's favor he doesn't change that much so that's what we're working on with him.
Senior Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) aims to recover from a winless bout at the ITA Southeast Regionals.
"And Dabdab, we're just working on playing more offense," Frederick said. "He's just got to get more offensive,"
It will also be the first event for junior Daniel Cox (Chattanooga, TN), freshman Josh Ott (Knoxville, TN) and freshman Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) since their season debut at the Wingate Invitational on Sept. 7th and 8th.
"[Waterbolk's] movement will be huge," Frederick said. "Stroke-wise, he's very good. His movement and his bending obviously being that tall, bending is a big deal and in tennis even if you're my size, and at his size it's huge. So we've kind of been working on a lot of physical things with him."
Other than the University of the Cumberlands, the Eagles will match up with Tennessee Wesleyan and Union College. The tournament is a one day "hidden dual" affair in which the four programs will battle it out in singles and doubles play but no two programs will play a full set of matches against one another that would normally constitute a dual-meet.
"Well the best one is Tennessee Wesleyan and their doubles team just won the NAIA Tournament last week," Frederick said. "So, they're very, very good, we did lose to them in doubles matches last year. They're probably the best."
Be sure to keep up with the Carson-Newman men's tennis team all season across C-N's social media platforms and on cneagles.com.
