TEMPE, Ariz. – As the Eagles of Carson-Newman men's tennis pulled out two pivotal wins in their SAC slate for 2022, the Orange and Blue remain in the latest ITA top 50. C-N is ranked for the fifth straight week as they come in at number 23, moving up four spots from last week's spot of number 27.
So far in 2022, the Eagles sit at 12-4 overall and remain a top tier program in the South Atlantic Conference. Most notably, last week, the Eagles not only secured a clean sweep over the Mars Hill Lions on Tuesday but they made program history from the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex on Saturday. The Orange and Blue were able to rally back as they pulled off a 4-3 victory over the Wingate Bulldogs, marking the first ever program victory over the Bulldogs.
Meanwhile, C-N freshman Marnix Van Dalen (Netherlands) continues to be one of the top singles players in all DII, coming in at no. 47 for the latest rankings.
In his debut season for the Eagles, Van Dalen has gone 18-9 overall, including 10-7 in the spring and 6-2 in SAC play. The freshman has won three out of his last five SAC matches, including a win over nationally ranked LMU and Tusculum.
Van Dalen comes in as the second highest ranked SAC player in the latest rankings, coming right in behind Wingate's Florian Walcher who moved from a spot of NR to #42 this week. Walcher and Van Dalen are joined in the latest ITA singles rankings by Queen's Edorado Bottino (#52), Tusculum's Francesco Bonacia (#58), Lenoir-Rhyne's Rhodri Atkinson (#61), and Wingate's Luka Brown (#72) for the April 7 poll.
Carson-Newman, the highest ranked SAC men's program, is one of six total teams representing the South Atlantic Conference in the Division II team rankings for the week of April 7. Joining C-N in the latest rankings are Anderson (#27), Wingate (#31), Queens (N.C.) (#36), Lenoir-Rhyne (#37), Tusculum (#42), Limestone (#56), and Lincoln Memorial (#64).
The Eagles will look to respond after a heartbreaking loss to Tusculum on Wednesday when they head to Newberry for a meeting with the Wolves on Friday at 1:00 p.m.
Then, on Saturday, the #23 Eagles face off with the #36 Royals with first serve at 3:00 p.m. as both sides look to remain in the ITA top 50 as well as secure a spot in the SAC top four as the season dwindles down.
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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