JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After one of the best weeks in program history, Carson-Newman men's tennis (12-4, 6-1 SAC) are looking to keep their momentum rolling as they continue the tough SAC schedule in the last month of the season.
The Orange and Blue will welcome in their east Tennessee rival, no. 43 Tusculum, on Wednesday before going back on the road to face the top team in the current SAC standings, Queens (N.C.) Royals, on Saturday.
Carson-Newman was last in action last week in a pair of matches. First, last Wednesday, it was C-N on the road to face the Mars Hill Lions. The match got started with the Eagles cleaning house and sweeping all three doubles matches and head into singles with the 1-0 advantage.
"The win today for the boys was good in order to go back to winning before a very big matchup ahead on Saturday," graduate coach Gabriel Dabdab said.
Singles competition saw the Eagles hold nothing back and leave no doubt, as all six singles matches would go the way of the Orange and Blue. In fact, three out of the six singles matches only saw an eight-game superset format as the match was decided early on by C-N.
Junior Ids Waterbolk only dropped two games over his match, winning 6-2, 6-0 and moving the Eagles ahead 2-0 over the Lions. Then, freshman Marnix Van Dalen took a 6-2, 6-0 victory and moved C-N one step closer to a match clincher. It did not take much longer for the Eagles to officially clinch the match as senior Rintaro Oka was cool as a cucumber, per usual, en route to a 6-1, 6-3 win. With his win, Oka secured the sixth straight victory over Mars Hill for the Orange and Blue, including their fourth straight win over the Lions on the road.
Then, last Saturday was the biggest day for any Carson-Newman men's tennis program as for the first time in program history, the Orange and Blue defeated the Wingate Bulldogs. This is the first win for C-N over the Bulldogs in 13 attempts. The two programs battled for six and a half hours on Saturday, as no team was ready to surrender at any point.
"I told the guys that was this means to us is that we can beat anybody," head coach Jim Frederick said. "We have to be ready to play but we can beat anybody. We've had many similar experiences in the past and for us to get this type of win, it shows that we can definitely play with the best people."
The morning did not get started as any C-N fan would have liked as Wingate secured the doubles point and early 1-0 advantage after claiming all three matches. Singles competition saw the Eagles with their backs against the wall as they looked to respond and fight back into the match in order to avoid their 13th straight L to the team from N.C.
The Eagles would gain wins by Marc Janse, Gjorgji Jankulovski, and Rintaro Oka while dropping results from Lars Hordijk and Marnix Van Dalen to set up a match-deciding result at number five singles.
"When you lose like we did at number one, everyone else stepped up," Frederick said. "That is the mark of a good team. Everybody can't win every day and as long as you keep fighting, people step up in the right time."
The tallest player of any C-N tennis team this season, Ids Waterbolk, was the last Eagle to be on the court Saturday as the match neared the seven-hour duration mark. The junior would take set one by a score of 7-6. His opponent would return the favor and win the second set by the same score (7-6) to set up a decisive third set for not only the point but the entire match.
Both programs were on the court as they looked to cheer on their athlete to a pivotal win in SAC play for 2022. Well, Lady Luck was once more on the side of the Eagles as Waterbolk claimed a 6-4 win in set three as he got dogpiled by the rest of C-N in pure jubilation.
SCOUTING #43 TUSCULUM
Carson-Newman and the Pioneers saw action against each other in April 2021. The major highlight between the two East Tennessee rivals came from Marc Janse, who remained perfect in his 2020-21 SAC campaign.
His win also gives Janse the new program record with 13 single-season victories, overtaking Jonathan Allen's 2013 record of 12-6. Janse has been a steady component to the Eagles finding success throughout the 2021 season.
"He is having a special season, one like I've never seen before," Gabriel Dabdab said. "To him, this is just another regular day in his life but I'm proud to be his teammate."
Beyond Janse's new program record, grad student Julian Froehlich (Kobenz, Austria) was the other Eagle to gain a victory and help C-N secure two points in the match. The Austria native saw his SAC singles record move above .500 as he finishes the regular season at 6-5 including an overall record of 7-3 from number five singles. Against Tusculum, Froehlich was once again playing number five singles and took home a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 result.
So far this season, Tusculum has gone 9-6 overall and 6-2 in SAC play including two straight wins over Coker and Catawba. The Pioneers would see another ranked opponent before heading to Mossy Creek as they square off with the Bears of Lenoir Rhyne on Monday.
In their meeting with the Bears, it would be the 25th-ranked Bears taking the 6-1 victory, including two out of three doubles and the first five singles matches against the 43rd-ranked Pioneers. L-R would clinch the match in the first half of singles, as Josh Lazenby won 6-2, 6-3 at flight two; Zachary Cox won 6-3, 6-2 at flight four, and Mauricio Hernandez won 6-2, 6-4 at flight six.
The lone Pioneers win came by way of Nathan Matsuguma, beating his Bears opponent 8-5 in a pro set at flight five.
SCOUTING QUEENS (N.C.)
The last meeting between the Cavaliers and Eagles came in last year's SAC quarterfinals from Sumter, S.C. As it was C-N's first SAC Tournament appearance in 11 years, it was no match for the Royals as Queens won 4-0 to move ahead to the SAC semifinals.
As the 2020-21 season ended with the loss, C-N matched their highest win (7-11) 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," Dabdab said. "I fully believe that the C-N men's tennis team will be stronger every year from now on."
In doubles, it was Dabdab and Waterbolk defeating Queens's Paolo Bompieri and Kasper Rolfsen to set up a deciding match from number three, which Queens would win with a 7-5 victory. Then, in singles, it would be Berk Enc clinching the match for the Royals as he won 6-2, 6-3 over Joshua Ott to hand Queens their fourth match point on the day.
So far in 2022, Queens has gone 8-4 overall and 7-1 in SAC play, including four straight. The Royals have seen victories over Wingate, Tusculum, Lincoln Memorial, and Limestone as part of their present four-match win streak. The lone loss for the Royals came against Anderson on March 19 as the Trojans would end up 4-3 victors.
In their last match of 2022 against the Railsplitters of LMU, it would be a 7-0 win for Queens. No. 31 Queens won two out of three doubles matches to gain the early 1-0 lead. In singles, seniors Yoan Roussinov and Jan Malmon brought the match home with 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 and a 6-1, 6-0 win at no. 5 and 6, respectively.
Opening serve between C-N and Tusculum is slated for 12:00 p.m. Wednesday from the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex. Meanwhile, the Eagles and Royals will get started on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. from the Howard Levine Tennis Center in Charlotte, N.C.
Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman men's tennis at cneagles.com and on social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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