HARROGATE, Tenn.- Carson-Newman's men's tennis team has a solid showing in doubles play against Tusculum but struggles in singles action against Tusculum and Lee.
Gjorgji Jankulovski and Javier Crespo began the day for the Eagles with a victory in the number one duo spot. The pair won in a set of 6-4. Marc Janse and Lars Hordijk followed suit winning 7-6 (7-1). Ids Waterbolk and Rintaro Oka dropped the final set 6-4.
"The guys played better, but we still have a lot of work to do," coach David Blank said.
Against the Lee Flames, Marnix Van Dalen dropped the first set of matches in the number one spot. He fell in sets of 6-3 and 6-1. Janse fell in the two spot in sets of 6-2 and 6-0. Jankulovski dropped the third straight match in sets of 7-5 and 6-0.
"Marnix played a top-30 player that he beat twice last year," coach Blank said. "Nico found a way to calm the storm and roared back to win 12 out of 13 games. Gjorgji played a tough first set."
Javier played in the number seven position but fell in sets of 6-1 and 6-1. Joshua Ott played in the eighth spot. Ott dropped the first set 6-2 but returned to win the second set 6-0. He could not finish the comeback as he dropped the final set 10-4. Waterbolk and Oka won in a pair of exhibition matches.
"The guys didn't come to play early. I'll take the blame on that because they didn't appear to be the fitter team," coach Blank said. "We have a lot of work to do conditioning-wise to get prepared to take on the best of the best in our region in less than two weeks."
Carson-Newman moved on to face Tusculum in singles action. Oka began play in the number four spot. He lost in his first set 7-6 but could not compete in the second set.
Waterbolk dropped his match in the number five position. He dropped back-to-back sets with scores of 6-4 and 6-2. Hordijk won the final match of the day for the Eagles in sets of 6-4 and 6-3.
Weather complications ended the day early for Carson-Newman's tennis teams.
The Eagles will look to bounce back at the ITA Regionals in Sumter, S.C.
