KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman men's tennis (1-1, 0-0 SAC) was back in action, only a day after securing their first victory of the spring 2022 season. After coming away with a 5-2 victory over a top-10 NAIA program in Union (Ky.), C-N faced off with Division II national powerhouse, no. 10 North Georgia Sunday.
However, Sunday was all about the Nighthawks as they took a 4-3 team victory to start their 2022 season off strong. This is the closest result for C-N against the Nighthawks since April 2010 when Carson-Newman narrowly fell to UNG 5-4 from Dahlonega, Ga.
The day started off with North Georgia (1-0, 0-0 PBC) taking the early point advantage behind victories in two of the three doubles matches. However, it was not easy as C-N fought for every moment and gave UNG everything they could ask for to start the contest.
Junior Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) and freshman Gjorgji Jankulovski (Macedonia) were the lone Eagles pairing to secure a victory for the second straight day. After starting off their season with a victory yesterday, Waterbolk and Jankuolvski took the 7-6 victory Sunday. This not only secured C-N a doubles victory, but was a massive upset for the Eagle pairing as their opponents, Gaskin and Murillo of UNG, came into Sunday as the number 20 doubles team in DII men's tennis.
"Boys were very close to getting the doubles point. They held a couple match points and number three doubles were much closer to break their opponent's serve than the other way around," graduate coach Gabriel Dabdab said.
Meanwhile, freshman Marnix Van Dalen (Netherlands) and senior Rintaro Oka (Narita, Japan) came away just a little short, as they fell 6-4 in the first doubles match to go final Sunday. The final Eagles pairing of junior Marc Janse (Zeewolde, Netherlands) and sophomore Lars Hordijk (Dordrecht, South Holland) looked to make the early advantage in favor of C-N. However, they also fell short as they would lose 7-6. With the win in number one doubles, UNG took the early point advantage as singles action commenced.
The Eagles did rebound and get on the board after Ids Waterbolk secured his second straight singles victory in 2022. His 6-4, 6-2 victory made sure that last year's 7-0 onslaught by UNG was not repeated and secured C-N their first match point against the Nighthawks since April 2017. The last time C-N men's tennis scored against North Georgia came in the form of a singles victory from Marc Bantel who would win his singles match in that contest.
The next Eagles victory came from Rintaro Oka in number three singles. The senior and Japan native was the fifth match to go final on Sunday, as Oka took a 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 three set victory. Finally, C-N secured their third point on the day behind another outstanding effort from sophomore Lars Hordijk in number five singles. Although the match was already in UNG's favor, Hordijk battled for a 7-5, 6-4 result and gave C-N their third match point on Sunday.
However, the rest of C-N's singles matches did not go their way as number two, four, and one singles fell to UNG. First, Marc Janse could not avenge last year's defeat to UNG as he fell 7-6, 6-3 to the number 26 singles player in DII men's tennis, Ryan Gaskin. Then, Gjorgji Jankulovski pushed his opponent to the limit as he would force the match to three sets. However, UNG's Brainard took home the 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 result to build the Nighthawks lead to 3-1.
Finally, in one of the most anticipated matchup of the afternoon, C-N freshman sensation Marnix Van Dalen would see one of the best DII men's tennis players on the other side of the net. UNG's Joaquin Benoit, the number two singles player according to the ITA, left no doubt as he swept Van Dalen 6-3, 7-6 and securing the fourth point and overall victory for UNG.
"All singles losses could have gone the other way as Marnix had set point at one moment, Gjorgji was up in the third, and Marc was toe-to-toe in the first set," Dabdab said. "All of that but in the end of the day, North Georgia is a great team and deserves all the credit."
The Eagles return to action later this week as they will head to Harrogate Friday for a neutral site matchup against the Young Harris Mountain Lions before going back to Knoxville Saturday for a square off with the Lees-McRae Bobcats from the Knoxville Racquet Club.
The Eagles and Mountain Lions start off at 1:00 p.m. Friday while C-N and the Bobcats hold first serve at 2:00 p.m. Saturday.
Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman men's tennis at cneagles.com and on all social media.
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