KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Four wins from up and down the singles lineup would prove to be the difference maker as Carson-Newman surged to a 4-3 victory over the Lee Flames Saturday from the Knoxville Racquet Club.
It is the team's first 2-0 start to the season since 2013.
"This was a huge challenge," head coach Jim Frederick said. "And to battle and come out on the winning side, it's a big step."
Struggling at the onset of the match by dropping the opening doubles point, C-N recovered to win four singles points en-route to delivering a season-opening loss to the opposing Flames. It is the first loss to open the season for Lee since 2017 and comes against a team who returned five starters from last year's 17-6 squad.
Postmatch Friday after a 7-0 victory over Martin Methodist, senior captain Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) felt that the two sides were evenly-matched and could go in favor of either team.
It was the captain who delivered a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 5 for a crucial match point.
A pair of Dutch freshmen in Marc Janse (Zeewolde, Netherlands) and Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) would secure wins at Nos. 3 and 6 singles to push the lead in favor of the Eagles. Both are enjoying 2-0 starts to their collegiate singles careers in dual match play after Saturday's win.
Sophomore Rintaro Oka (Narita, Japan) returned to the No. 2 singles position for a second-straight match where he won a contested three-set thriller, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to round out the singles victories.
Looking forward to next weekend, the team returns back to the confines of the Knoxville Racquet Club for another pair of non-conference matchups against Milligan Saturday and King (Tenn.) Sunday. Opening serve is set for 2 p.m. against Milligan with a Sunday morning serve against King on 10 a.m.
