SUMTER, S.C. – After two days of competitive action, the Eagles of Carson-Newman men's tennis team see their time at the International Tennis Association Southeast Regional qualifiers in Sumter, South Carolina come to an end Saturday night.
Junior Marc Janse (Zeewolde, Netherlands) was in the round of 32 on Saturday against 6th-seeded Nikita Tatyanin. Unfortunately for Janse, Tatyanin took the 6-2, 6-3 result and advanced to Sunday's round of 16.
The Eagles also saw freshman Gjorgji Jankulovski (Macedonia) claim a spot in the round of 32 Saturday after advancing with two straight victories. His opponent for the round of 32 would be 9th-seeded Javier Cueto Ramos. Jankulovski was not able to fully complete the match as Cueto Ramos won by a 6-2, 2-0 (ret.) decision.
Sophomore Lars Hordijk (Dordrecht, South Holland) was the third Eagle to stay on the winning side of action into Saturday's action. However, in a battle of unseeded opponents, it was Luka Brown taking the 6-0, 6-2 decision over Hordijk and continuing his own hot start to the tournament.
Another Eagles freshman, Richard Dulganov (Hungary), ended his ITAs debut in the consolation bracket Saturday. After being matched up with Liam Day to start Saturday, Dulganov was awarded the walk-over win as his opponent was deemed unable to compete. Sadly, the same fate fell on the freshman in his next match as he would not be able to continue himself, thus giving his next opponent, Xaveam Can Wijk, the walk-over victory.
Senior Rintaro Oka (Narita, Japan) was placed in the consolation bracket as well as he started the second day of action on Saturday. In his first match of Saturday, Oka defeated Rodrigo Mendoza by a decision of 6-0, 7-6 (4). This would set up another consolation bracket match for Oka as he would go against Bruno Medeiros Saturday night. Unfortunately, Oka's luck ran out as Medeiros won 6-4, 6-3 to advance in the consolation bracket.
Junior Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) saw a short stop in the consolation bracket end on Saturday. After losing his round of 132 matchup to start the tournament on Friday, Waterbolk was scheduled to face Samuel Winter for a Saturday matinee in the consolation bracket. Winter came out on top as he defeated Waterbolk 6-2, 7-5 in order to keep his tournament hopes alive and move ahead into Sunday.
Freshman Marnix Van Dalen (Netherlands) looked to end his time at the ITAs on a positive note Saturday, but was unable to do so as his opponent was given a walk-over victory after Van Dalen was deemed injured.
Meanwhile, in doubles action, the Eagles had a trio of pairings competing to start all action on Saturday.
After bypassing the first round as the 9th-seeded pairing, Gjorgji Jankulovski and Ids Waterbolk faced Pudney and Kenzlers to start action Saturday morning. The duo walked away as 8-4 winners and advanced to play the pairing of Can Wijk and Cary in the next match.
Jankulovski and Waterbolk sadly could not overcome Can Wijk and Cary as the opponent won 8-5 and ended the duo's time in Sumter.
The Eagles duo of Marc Janse and Lars Hordijk were unable to continue their momentum from Friday night as the duo were no match for 3rd-seeded pairing of Schold and Martinetti. The opposition swept the Eagles 8-0 and advanced to play another main bracket match.
The final Eagles pairing of Rintaro Oka and Richard Dulganov faced a similar fate as Janse and Hordijk. The duo came off a win Friday night as they were scheduled to play 9th-seeded doubles of De Groot and Horne Saturday morning. De Groot and Horne walked away 8-3 winners and eliminated the Eagles from action in Sumter.
Cason-Newman men's tennis will be back in action for the Young Harris Tournament which will take place from October 8 to October 10 in Young Harris, Ga.
Be sure to keep up with the C-N men's tennis team all season long across Carson-Newman's social media platforms and on cneagles.com
