SEWANEE, Tenn. – As the Eagles took to the road for the first true time this spring, Carson-Newman men's tennis (4-1, 0-0 SAC) saw the efforts of Marnix Van Dalen lead the way to a huge victory over a perennial Division III powerhouse in the Sewanee Tigers (0-2, 0-0 SAA) Tuesday.
The match came down to the No. 1 and 5 on singles. Sewanee led 4-3 after taking doubles; match note: Division III is the only one left in college, I think, that uses all nine points in a match instead of doubles counting as one point
In the last meeting prior to Tuesday, C-N men's tennis team secured only one win in their faceoff against the College of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee falling 8-1 against the nationally-ranked Tigers.
On that day, the only win of the day for the Eagles came at the No. 5 singles position by Jesus Bacete-Sanz. He won the first set fairly handily 6-3 but had to battle through the second against his opponent. Bacete-Sanz came out on top and secured the win 7-5 in the second set.
Flashing forward to Tuesday, Sewanee men's tennis is the only DIII school on the Eagles' schedule this spring as the Tigers came into the match ranked no. 22 in the latest DIII poll released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association this season.
The action got started as both programs looked ahead to gaining the early advantage and going up 1-0 early on after doubles. The Eagles would only see one victory in the three doubles matches, coming from the number one position via Marc Janse (Zeewolde, Netherlands) and Lars Hordijk (Dordrecht, South Holland).
The pair would face off with Noah/Olps from the home Tigers program as they notched a 8-7 (5-7) win and started off strong for the third straight nonconference match.
Then, the pairing of Rintaro Oka (Narita, Japan) and Marnix Van Dalen (Netherlands) saw their number three doubles match fall in favor of the Tigers, 7-5. Finally, the number two doubles pair of Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) and Gjorgji Jankulovski (Macedonia) suffered a rare stumble early in 2022 as they fell 8-7 (7-5) to Motlow/Quinn of Sewanee.
Once singles started, the Eagles fought with everything to keep it close as Marc Janse got the Eagles rolling in the right direction from number two singles. The reigning SAC Player of the Week saw a near perfect two-set sweep as he defeated Jd of Sewanee, 6-0, 6-1, to push his 2022 record to 4-1.
The Eagles then also saw freshman Gjorgji Jankulovski keep the winning ways rolling as he played number four singles. The C-N freshman would come out on top after pulling out a 6-1, 6-1 result.
Then, Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) who came into Tuesday as the lone Eagle to hold an unblemished record in 2022, going 8-0 over both doubles and singles was on fire yet again. The junior bounced back from the loss in doubles to right the ship as he won once more from number six singles, 4-6, 6-2, 5-3.
The Eagles would see Rintaro Oka fall at number three singles as Noah pushed Sewanee ahead with a 6-0, 7-5 victory. Finally, Lars Hordijk played number five singles once more as he would suffer his first singles loss of 2022, 6-4, 6-3.
Finally, it all came down to the efforts of Marnix Van Dalen who came into Tuesday after winning his first singles match of the spring last Saturday. The freshman took the first set 6-1 before falling in the second 4-6. It all came down to the third and final set between Sewanee and the Eagles.
Well, luck be a lady in favor of C-N as Van Dalen mustered every last ounce of strength as he clinched the final point and gave C-N the overall 5-4 victory by winning the deciding set 7-5.
The Eagles now take a 10-day break between action as they will start preparing for their next scheduled round of action next Saturday, Feb. 26, against Belmont Abbey and Lee from the Knoxville Racquet Club.
Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman tennis at cneagles.com and on all social media.
-CN-
