VIDEO: Jim Frederick Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman takes on a busy stretch of three matches in four days this week, welcoming Lincoln Memorial, Delta State and Bluefield College to the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex starting on Wednesday.
This string of home matches for Carson-Newman (5-3, 0-2 South Atlantic Conference) brings just the third set of back-to-back days of play the team has seen since the start of the spring season. The other occurrences came in back-to-back weekends to open the spring, facing Martin Methodist and Lee on January 31 and February 1, respectively, before playing Milligan on February 8 and King on February 9. The Eagles were victorious in all four of those outings.
Carson-Newman coach Jim Frederick's group is still in search of its first SAC win after falling to No. 4 Wingate and Newberry last week. Saturday's match against the Wolves saw C-N come up just short at 4-3. The Eagles took the doubles' point with wins from Marc Janse (Zeewolde, Netherlands) and Rintaro Oka (Narita, Japan) at No. 2 and Julian Froehlich (Kobenz, Austria) and Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) at No. 3.
"This team, it will not let one match affect the next," Frederick said. "I mean, the match we lost Saturday, we didn't really lose it on the court. We had to default a match due to a turned ankle and that was really hard for everybody to take. We'll be ready to play tomorrow, we'll be ready to play Thursday,we'll be ready to play Saturday."
Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) still holds the longest winning streak on the team in singles play at three-straight. The senior is 4-1 at the No. 5 position. Two of his previous three wins have come in straight sets, including a 7-5, 7-6 outing against No. 4 Wingate's Matt Jones.
C-N opens this stretch with another conference foe as Lincoln Memorial (3-8, 1-0 SAC) comes to town on Wednesday, riding a two-match winning streak and sitting in a four-way tie for first in the conference standings.
The Railsplitters defeated Catawba on Saturday, 4-3, after throttling King, 6-1, on March 4, snapping a seven-match losing skid.
Xavier Marti has seen the most success this season for LMU, holding a combined 10-0 record in his matches played at the No. 2, 3 and 4 positions. The senior has won nine of those matches in straight-set decisions, one of those coming in a second-set default by injury at Augusta on March 1.
Since 2010, C-N has gone winless against the 'Splitters, including a 5-2 loss last year in Harrogate, Tenn. The closest the Eagles have come to winning in the series during the past 10 years came in 2017 when they fell 5-4.
The first-ever meeting between Carson-Newman and Delta State (7-0) is slated to take place on Thursday afternoon. The two sides were scheduled to meet in the 2018 season-opener but inclement weather cancelled that match.
The Statesmen head to C-N after a midweek meeting at Tennessee Wesleyan.
Emile Le Terrier has been the only player in the top-spot throughout the season, holding a 3-4 record in singles. The most successful Statesman in singles this season has been Hugo Stroppiana, going a combined 7-0 as the No. 2 and No. 3. In doubles action, Le Terrier and Trey Seymour has gone 7-0 at the No. 2 to stand as the only tandem with a winning record among the group.
A pair of Appalachian Athletic Conference matches stand between Bluefield (1-3) and its first meeting with C-N in the modern era. The lone win the Rams have seen this season came in a 4-3 decision at King on February 15. They fell in two doubles matches but bounced back with wins in singles including a default victory at the No. 5 spot.
Wednesday's meeting with LMU is set to begin at 2 p.m. on the banks of Mossy Creek while play against Delta State and Bluefield have first-serves slated for 1 p.m. The midweek tussles will feature live scoring at cneagles.com/livestats.
