ATHENS, Tenn. – It has been a long 335 days for Carson-Newman men's tennis in between matches, but the Eagles started their spring 2021 schedule Wednesday afternoon with a short trip to Athens, Tenn. against the Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs. In the end, the Bulldogs came away victors 6-1 over the Eagles.
The Eagles and Tennessee Wesleyan have squared off seven previous times, with the Bulldogs holding the 6-1 series lead. However, C-N was able to take the 2020 matchup by a 5-2 team score. The Bulldogs were 4-4 overall prior to the season shortage last year and are primed to repeat success throughout this season when they can.
This was the third match of 2021 for the Bulldogs, coming in at 1-1 after a 7-0 victory against Piedmont College on Feb. 3 before falling to Lee University 4-3 on Feb. 4, 2021.
Tennessee Wesleyan used the early doubles momentum to gain the 1-0 edge before never looking back and taking the victory. C-N pitted a talented triplet of doubles pairs, with grad student Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and sophomore Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) came the closest to an Eagle victory, falling 7-5 in the No 1 singles spot.
In singles action, Dabdab continued his Eagle career with a loss in the No. 5 singles spot by a score of 6-3, 6-0 to the Bulldogs. Meanwhile, fellow grad student teammate Julian Froehlich (Kobenz. Austria) was strong in his 2021 debut, marking a hard-fought loss in the No. 3 singles with a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to his Bulldog opponent.
Most notably, Waterbolk battled all three sets against his opponent, coming away with the 7-6, 6-2, 10-0 No. 4 singles victory. This was the lone victory for the Eagles and first for Waterbolk on the season.
Moving forward to this weekend, C-N head back to the confines of Knoxville Racquet Club for a pair of matchups on Feb. 13 against some formidable foes. First, the Eagles face off against the Belmont Abbey Crusaders before seeing the Bulldogs again for the second time this week. Opening serve is set for 11 a.m. against Belmont Abbey before a 7 p.m. nightcap with Tennessee Wesleyan.
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