SUMTER, S.C.- Carson-Newman saw action in a SAC Tournament match for the first time in 11 years on Thursday afternoon. The Eagles (7-11) were slotted as the number seven seed and saw a first-round matchup against the number two seed Queens (N.C.) Royals (14-3) on their plate. With Thursday's result, the Royals handled business against C-N as they walked away 4-0 victors and will play in the 2021 SAC Men's Tennis Semifinals tomorrow afternoon.
With their 7-11 record, C-N matches their highest win total since the 2016-17 season when they finished 7-10 with a 5-6 in SAC play. Since then, they have gone a combined 11-35 since 2017.
"We knew that it would be tough and believed until the end," grad student Gabriel Dabdab said. "I fully believe that the C-N men's tennis team will be stronger every year from now on."
C-N and Queens recently saw regular season action against each other on April 3 from Jefferson City where the Royals took home a 6-1 victory. However, in the match, C-N saw success from sophomore Marc Janse (Zeewolde, Netherlands). The All-SAC first-team singles selection finished his regular season with an unblemished 11-0 record in SAC singles action, including the lone win against Queens during the April 3 matchup.
On the doubles side of competition Thursday, neither side could pull away in any of the matches as they all came down to a couple games to decide. Number two doubles saw C-N's duo of Janse and junior Rintaro Oka (Narita, Japan) go against Queen's Edoardo Bottino and Edoardo Cecere. The Royals gained the early doubles momentum after Bottino and Cecere took a 6-3 victory over C-N's pairing.
However, it was the pairing of grad student Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janerio, Brazil) and sophomore Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) of C-N which pushed the match momentum staright to the middle after defeating the #23 team in DII, Paolo Bompieri and Kasper Rolfsen of Queens, by a final of 6-4. This set up the third and final deciding match from number three doubles.
In number three doubles, sophomore Joshua Ott (Knoxville, Tenn.) and grad student Julian Froehlich (Kobenz, Austria) of C-N squared off with Berk Enc and Jan Malmon of Queens. The match was an absolute nail-biter from start to finish, but it was Queens's pairing who claimed the doubles point and 1-0 advantage for the Royals with a 7-5 victory.
Moving into singles play behind, C-N knew it had an uphill battle to climb. Five out of the six matches in singles were the exact same as they were on April 3 when the two matched up in regular season play.
Number two singles action was a matchup of All-SAC first-team singles selections as Janse of C-N looked to defeat Paolo Bompieri of Queens for the second time this year. As part of his 11-0 record in SAC singles, Janse grinded out a 7-5, 4-6, 10-8 three-set thriller on April 3 which was C-N's only point in the match. However, for the first time in 2021, Janse was handed a loss by a SAC opponent, Bompieri swept the rematch on Thursday with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Janse.
Janse finished the year off with a 13-5 overall record, which places him with the third-highest single-season winning percentage at 0.722 for an Eagle.
Waterbolk claimed the number three singles spot for C-N against Queen's Edoardo Cecere. Cecere was an All-SAC second-team singles selection as announced earlier in the week. In the April 3 matchup, Cecere swept Waterbolk 6-1, 6-4. In the rematch on Thursday, the result was almost the exact same as Waterbolk could only muster one game and Cecere won 6-1, 6-0.
The lone lineup change for C-N came as Ott was placed in action from number five singles against Queen's Berk Enc on Thursday. In his first time playing from number five singles in 2021, Ott battled hard to claim a valuable match point but was not able to stop the momentum of Queen's Enc. Enc clinched the match for the Royals as he won 6-2, 6-3 over Ott to hand Queens their fourth match point on the day.
Oka was the only other Eagle to see full completion of singles action. He went up against Edorado Bottino of Queens, much like the April 3 matchup. Thursday was all Bottino as he claimed a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Oka and gave Queens the definitive 5-0 victory to advance in the SAC Tournament.
The remainder of the singles action for number four and six singles saw no final result decided. In his final match as an Eagle, Dabdab dabbled with Yoan Roussinov of Queens from number four singles. Finally, in number six singles, it was also the last match for Froehlich who squared off with Jan Malmon of Queens.
As the Eagles were handed a loss, it is the end of the road for two of C-N's premier student athletes on the court. Dabdab has been a part of the C-N team since he came to Mossy Creek in 2017. Since then, he has compiled an overall singles record of 28-42 including seeing action from every position except number six singles. His highest win total came in 2017 when he finished 10-7. When playing doubles, Dabdab has gathered an overall record of 33-40 with action from all three spots at some point in his career.
With his 28 singles victories, Dabdab currently holds the third-most career wins for an Eagle behind Juan Sebastian Perez who collected 31 from 2013-16 and Kevin Mendes who compiled 30 total wins from 2015-18. His 33 doubles victories for his C-N career place Dabdab with the second-most in program history behind Joao Pedro Oliveria who finished his career with 38 from 2014-17.
The other Eagle who sadly saw his time as an Eagle end on Thursday was Froehlich. Froehlich was only in Mossy Creek for the last two seasons but made an immediate and life-lasting impact on the team. He finished his two years in Mossy Creek with a 13-14 record in singles and 8-18 record in doubles. However, the Austria native's biggest impact was being a constant uplifter to C-N and keeping team support high.
The Eagles finish the 2021 season with a record of 7-11 including a mark of 5-6 against SAC opponents in regular season competition. Although the Eagles lose athletes like Dabdab and Froehlich, they know the future is bright and have another tournament appearance in mind for 2022.
Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman men's tennis at cneagles.com and via all social media accounts.
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