Video: Gabriel Dabdab Interview
SUMTER, S.C. – Only a year after returning to the SAC Tournament for the first time in 11 seasons, 33rd-ranked Carson-Newman men's tennis (14-7, 8-4 SAC) is back once more for postseason play. The Orange and Blue will see a familiar foe, the 35th-ranked Wingate Bulldogs, for SAC quarterfinals action on Thursday morning.
When the Eagles take to the courts, they will be the sixth seed in the 2021 SAC Tournament going up against the number three seed Bulldogs.
"I was in this position last year as a player when we knew we could be a top eight team, but may not be able to compete with the best teams. This year, as a coach, I see the opposite being true as bot the men's and women's teams can go out and compete for every match and be one of the best," graduate coach Gabriel Dabdab said. "The men have something in themselves that I haven't seen in a while, the ability to fight when times get tough and to battle back from adversity."
The Eagles finished one of the best regular seasons in program history with a Senior Day sweep against the Catawba Indians last Saturday. With a 7-0 result, C-N pulled off their fourth home sweep and sixth overall win from the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex. The 2022 regular season was one for the record books for C-N men's tennis, as the Eagles was placed within the ITA top 50 for the last six weeks including rising as high as 23rd.
During their 2022 spring season, the Eagles were able to pull off timely and huge program wins including the program's first-ever win over their quarterfinal's opponent, Wingate, back on April 2. The two programs battled for six and a half hours 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."
In the meeting, Wingate gained the upper hand as they went into singles play with the 1-0 point advantage. 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 14th straight L to the team from N.C.
Thanks to wins from Marc Janse, Gjorgji Jankulovski, and Rintaro Oka, the Eagles were in prime position to claim the match as it all came down to number five action.
"This was a huge win and the way he won kind of set us up for the feeling that we could do this," Frederick said.
The tallest player of either C-N tennis team this season, Ids Waterbolk, was the last Eagle to be on the court 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. 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.
The Bulldogs concluded their regular season with a 11-7 overall record and went 9-3 in SAC play, including winning four out of their last five SAC matchups after losing to the Eagles.
The pinnacle of C-N's success for 2022 has seen four athletes set a new program record for single season wins in singles play for the last 15 years, as the previous high of 13 wins set in 2020-21 was broken by Janse, Gjorgji Jankulovski, Lars Hordijk, and Ids Waterbolk. Janse led the way with 17 wins while Waterbolk, Jankulovski and Hordijk finished with 16 victories for the spring season.
A year after Janse set the previous single season mark last season, he came back stronger for his junior season to lead the Eagles with a 17-4 overall record and 10-2 mark against SAC competition. Over his 10 wins in South Atlantic Conference play, the Netherlands native compiled wins over nationally ranked programs in Lincoln Memorial, Wingate, Tusculum, and Anderson.
Ids Waterbolk was in action from the number five and six singles flight for the Eagles throughout 2022. He would finish the regular season with a mark of 16-4 overall and 9-2 in SAC play, one of two Eagles with nine conference wins in 2022. His most notable win came as the match clincher against the Bulldogs. The junior also collected wins over nationally ranked North Georgia, Lincoln Memorial, Lenoir-Rhyne, and Queens (N.C.) in 2022.
"This is something we know we can do and believe that we deserve to be in Sumter year after year," Dabdab said. "This men's team is a solid unit of players and we know how tough conference play is for everyone, but as long as we fight like we have all season, we should make our mark in the SAC."
Perhaps the biggest and nicest surprise for the Orange and Blue has come from the racquet of Lars Hordijk, one year after being the team cheerleader in 2021. In his first full season on the courts, the sophomore went 16-5 overall and was the other Eagles athlete with nine SAC wins, finishing 9-3 in conference play.
As he saw action from number four, five, and six singles, Hordijk started off his conference slate with four straight wins before also seeing wins over Lincoln Memorial, Tusculum, and Queens (N.C.) to pad his sensational efforts on the court.
However, no Eagle has seen quite the 2022 success as freshman Gjorgji Jankulovski, who finished the spring with the most SAC wins on the team with his mark of 11-1 against conference foes. Playing only one match at number three, the remaining 20 matches for the Macedonia native came from the number four flight, where Jankulovski finished 16-4 overall and on a four-match win streak to end the spring.
His win streak includes wins over nationally ranked Queens and Anderson as well as SAC foes in Newberry and Catawba. The only SAC blemish for the freshman came on April 6, when he fell to Tusculum as part of a heartbreaking 4-3 loss for C-N.
The Eagles also held a program shattering spring with the efforts of freshman Marnix Van Dalen, as he would become the first CNMT athlete ranked under the direction of head coach Jim Frederick. The Netherlands native finished his first spring in Mossy Creek with a record of 12-9 overall and 8-4 in SAC play, all coming at the number one position.
Meanwhile, Van Dalen has been ranked as one of the ITA's top 50 singles players in DII men's tennis, rising as high as number 30.
Finally, Van Dalen's double partner, senior Rintaro Oka, wrapped up his final regular season along the bank of Mossy Creek. As one of the unspoken leaders for this year's program, Oka would battle from number three singles, going 12-8 overall and 8-4 in SAC play. Most notably for his 2022 season, Oka would pull out wins against nationally ranked North Georgia, Lincoln Memorial, and Wingate.
Doubles action also saw the Eagles put their best foot forward, including a new program record for single season wins by Gjorgji Jankulovski/Ids Waterbolk. The duo finished 14-7 overall and 7-5 in SAC play. This breaks the old program record of 13 single season doubles wins by Joao Pedro Oliveria and Austin Mackay in 2015.
The Eagles also saw the pairing of Marc Janse/Lars Hordijk tie the program record with a mark of 13-8 overall and 8-4 in SAC play. After starting the season at number one flight, the duo were moved to number two position where they finished the spring 8-3.
Finally, Marnix Van Dalen and Rintaro Oka played number three doubles for the Eagles. As the number three pairing, they would go 9-10 overall and 5-5 in SAC.
"These next few days are about resting and taking care of what we can control. We'll get to Sumter a little earlier on Wednesday and Thursday and prepare by hitting a little bit, but we know once action begins, it's about competing," Dabdab said. "This year has been one for the memories, but we're not done and we look forward to seeing how our time in Sumter plays out."
Thursday's match will begin at 9 a.m. in Sumter, S.C. from the Palmetto Tennis Center. The winner of the Eagles and Bulldogs will advance to Friday's semifinal between the winner of number seven seed Lincoln Memorial and number two seed Anderson.
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