YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – One day after seeing defeat and a sweep by North Georgia, Carson-Newman men's tennis (4-4, 2-0 SAC) came back strong on Sunday as they were victors over the Mountain Lions of Young Harris College (3-4, 0-0 PBC) by a close 4-3 margin.
For the second match this season, sophomore Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) has pushed the Eagles across the edge and gain the overall victory. Entering Sunday, Waterbolk is 4-3 when playing singles matches this season as he has seen action from both the number 3 and the number 4 position. He claimed the final point for C-N as he kept the match close but eventually pulled away with a 7-5, 7-6 triumph from number three singles.
"Guys win another close one," head coach Jim Frederick said. "Very proud of the way they fight and Ids again won the deciding match for us for the second time this season."
The Eagles started the day off strong when they took the valuable doubles point after winning two of the three matches. The pair of grad student Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Waterbolk saw action as number one doubles, and started their day off with a 6-3 victory to take their win margin to four on the 2021 season.
Sophomore Marc Janse (Zeewolde, Netherlands) and junior Rintaro Oka (Narita, Japan) won the doubles point for C-N after claiming the 6-0 victory from number two doubles. The pair have been strong forces in singles, so seeing them succeed at doubles make head coach Jim Frederick happy.
Janse was able to keep his singles success afloat when he saw action from the number two singles spot for the fourth straight match. He claimed his second point for the Eagles on the night as he defeated his Lions opponent 6-3, 6-2. Janse has won more matches at number two than he did while playing number one, which is why Frederick decided to switch him and teammate Oka recently.
Dabdab strived to bounce back after suffering a loss at number five singles Saturday when he faced off with Schiltz of Young Harris as Dabdab was able to redeem himself and won by a 6-0, 6-2 margin to gain his fourth singles victory in the early season. This victory also set up the final point to be decided between C-N and Young Harris in the number three singles between Waterbolk and Mendoza.
The Eagles will see their home opener take place on Tuesday when the Anderson Trojans, a SAC foe, pay Mossy Creek a visit. First serve for the Eagles and Trojans is set for 2:00 p.m. from the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex on March 9.
Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman men's tennis on cneagles.com and via all social media accounts.
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