HICKORY, N.C. – For the first time this spring, no. 24 Carson-Newman men's tennis (10-4, 4-1 SAC) suffered a loss in conference play as they fell to no. 30 Lenoir Rhyne (11-4, 7-0 SAC) Saturday. The Eagles and Bears met up as the last two men's SAC programs without a conference loss, but after Saturday, the host Bears remain perfect as they won 5-2 and hand C-N their first SAC loss of 2022.
Saturday started off with the Eagles losing the doubles point as they only could muster a win at number two doubles.
In number one doubles, Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) and Gjorgji Jankulovski (Macedonia) would fall to L-R's Rhodri Atkinson/Josh Lazenby by a final of 6-3. The Eagles would look to respond and force a decisive match as number two doubles was next to finish.
In number two doubles, the pairing of Marc Janse (Zeewolde, Netherlands) and Lars Hordijk (Dordrecht, South Holland) clinched C-N's lone doubles win on Saturday as they defeated Hemmings/Hernandez of the Bears by a final of 6-3. This would set up a decisive result at the number three position.
Finally, in number three doubles, Marnix Van Dalen (Netherlands) and Rintaro Oka wrapped up the doubles action, but were unable to claim the advantage for the Eagles as they fell 7-5 to L-R's Scott/Alvestrand.
"We did not play our best today and the match results show that. We could have easily won this match, but this is a true sign of a good team. There are many good teams in this conference," head coach Jim Frederick said. "A good team takes what happened today and responds and overcomes any challenges. Our next match versus Mars Hill is one we should be able to control so we need to respond and play at our highest level come Wednesday."
Singles competition saw the Eagles claim two out of the six matches, as they were victorious at the number four and five positions.
The singles portion of Saturday got started with number one, three, and five singles. In number one singles, L-R's Rhodri Atkinson seemed quite unstoppable as he faced C-N's Marnix Van Dalen (Netherlands). The freshman knew it was going to be an uphill battle, as he would fall 6-4, 6-2 as the home team moved ahead 2-0.
From there, junior Ids Waterbolk (Bennekom, Netherlands) got C-N on the board with one of the two singles win on Saturday. After inching out a 7-6 first set victory, the 6-9 junior used his height to his advantage in set two as he pulled away 6-4 and got C-N's first point of the day.
The final "first round" singles match to finish included senior Rintaro Oka (Narita, Japan) who saw one of the three matches to go a full three-set distance. The Japan native would win set one by a score of 6-4. However, he would see set two go to his opponent with a 6-4 decision. Finally, the third and decisive set was an all-out battle as L-R gained their third point of the day (going ahead 3-1), thanks to a 7-5 win by Lewis Scott.
Then, numbers two, four and six singles finished off the day for both programs. First, Marc Janse would see another third-set against L-R's Josh Lazenby. Lazenby got off to a hot start with a 6-3 first set victory before C-N saw Janse roar back to claim the second set 6-4. However, Janse could not find enough juice as he fell in the third set 6-3 and L-R officially would win the match, going ahead 4-1.
In number six singles, Lars Hordijk seemed to be no match for his opponent as he would only won three games over the two-set minimum. L-R would build their lead to 5-1 off a 6-1, 6-2 win by Zachary Cox as only one match remained to finish.
However, despite the already decided match, the Eagles got one more win as freshman Gjorgji Jankulovski won a three-set thriller by scores of 7-6, 2-6, 6-1. This secured the final score overall to be 5-2 as the Eagles look to regroup and remain as one of the best programs in the 2022 SAC standings.
"We got outplayed today and despite the final score being what it is, the match results show how tight we played and how much we seemed to fight our way back into this," Frederick said. "I think it's time for our program to acknowledge the shortcomings and work on them as SAC play continues. It is paramount for us to step up our game and play to our best ability no matter the opponent on the opposite side of the net."
The Eagles now turn their attention to another road match in SAC play as the Eagles head to Mars Hill Wednesday. First serve between the Eagles and Lions is slated for 2:00 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.
Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman men's tennis via cneagles.com and on all social media outlets.
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