LAWRENCEVILLE, GA – Freshman Hugo Castets (Gardignan, France) won his first two matches before being eliminated by Georgia Gwinnett's Jose Dugo in a third-set tiebreaker 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-7) at the Georgia Gwinnett Invitational.
"He said 'I can't expect these guys to make mistakes,'" Carson-Newman coach Jim Frederick said. "Players at this level don't make a whole lot of mistakes and don't beat themselves."
Castets also won two matches in consolation at the ITA Southeast Regional qualifiers in late September.
"For him to lose almost teaches him more than when he wins," Frederick said. "You can play under your best and still beat some teams and players, it almost gives you a false sense of security. The better players just don't ever give you free points."
After winning his opening match, Castets beat Marco Meon of South Atlantic Conference rival Tusculum 6-2, 6-1.
"He's learning, in the first match he did what he had to do to win," Frederick said. "In the second match, the guy played unbelievably the first set then Hugo won the second set and the third set tiebreaker 10-7. He played with some heart and was nitty-gritty."
Freshman Marc Janse (Zeewolde, Netherlands) won his first match 6-4, 6-2 but then lost to Georgia Gwinnett's Daniel Czepielewski 6-1, 6-2.
Freshman Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) and senior Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) both lost their main draw match in the men's "A" singles draw.
Meanwhile in the men's "B" singles draw, Freshman Josh Ott (Knoxville, TN) won his main draw match in a third-set tiebreaker before being taken down 6-3, 6-4.
"His first victory was a great win," Frederick said. "It was the best match he's had all fall."
Junior Daniel Cox (Chattanooga, TN) also won his main draw match in third-set tiebreaker fashion before losing his following contest.
In doubles action, both pairings of Janse and Waterbolk, as well as Dabdab and Castets, won their first-round matches before losing the next match. The duo of Cox and Ott lost their only doubles match.
In consolation, Dabdab won his main draw contest 7-5, 6-3 before taking down Tusculum's Manuel Guedes de Almeida in a third-set tiebreaker 2-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-5). The senior was unable to continue his climb because the final day of the contest was rained out due to downpours in the area.
"Dabdab beat a guy that he'd never beaten before," Frederick said. "He was down two match points in a second-set tiebreaker and won the third-set tie breaker. I think it was huge for his confidence because he beat someone he had never beaten before and to do it the way he did was huge."
Dabdab had been struggling to maintain leads he had built up in previous matches but got over the hump in Lawrenceville.
"It was not just that he won those matches but the way he won," Frederick said.
Waterbolk lost his main draw match in consolation.
"He just has to play more attacking," Frederick said. "He can be an attacking player because he has a big serve, he has to learn when to attack."
The team will next travel to Tyson Tennis Center in Knoxville, TN for the Eagle Invitational on Oct. 26th and 27th.
Be sure to keep up with the Carson-Newman women's tennis team all across C-N's social media platforms and on cneagles.com.
