Eagles Upset No. 25 LMU to Advance to SAC Semis
Carson-Newman Men’s Tennis entered the South Atlantic Conference Tournament as the six seed, and is still dancing after an upset of the three seed on Wednesday afternoon.
VIDEO: Nathan Gangelhoff Interview
SUMTER, S.C. – Carson-Newman Men's Tennis entered the South Atlantic Conference Tournament as the six seed, and is still dancing after an upset of the three seed on Wednesday afternoon.
Carson-Newman (11-7, 7-5 South Atlantic Conference) got its revenge after a regular season road loss to in-state rival No. 25 Lincoln Memorial (21-6, 9-3 SAC) in a complete reversal of the beginning of the month, winning 4-1 over the Railsplitters.
Just as it did in the regular season meeting, the Eagles took the doubles point, but unlike the contest in Harrogate, C-N kept the momentum going in singles action, leading to the upset victory to send the Eagles into the SAC Semifinals on Thursday.
"There's a lot of things to like," Carson-Newman Men's Tennis head coach Nathan Gangelhoff said. "There were so many great things about our doubles play, and taking our momentum from doubles, and then translating that into singles, which in recent times we've had a little bit of struggle with that, and that did not happen today."
Carson-Newman struck twice quickly in singles from Courts No. 5 and No. 6 with victories from Matthew Saunders and Leonard Baecker before Paul Gayk clinched on Court No. 3 to put the Eagles through to the next round.
SINGLES RESULTS
No. 1: Radu Florea (LMU) vs. Marnix Van Dalen (C-N) 4-6, 6-2, unfinished
No. 2: Alexandru Giurea (LMU) def. Gjorgji Jankulovski (C-N) 6-2, 6-2
No. 3: Harper Mills (LMU) vs. Louis Keenan (C-N) 6-3, unfinished
No. 4: Paul Gayk (C-N) def. Kai Miyatake (LMU) 6-2, 7-5
No. 5: Matthew Saunders (C-N) def. Ethan Hirons (LMU) 6-2, 6-1
No. 6: Leonard Baecker (C-N) def. Sergio Boneta Aranzeta (LMU) 6-3, 6-2
Just as it had done in the regular season, Carson-Newman took doubles behind a strong performance from Marnix Van Dalen and Paul Gayk on Court No. 2, both of whom were honored with their All-Conference awards prior to the match in Sumter.
DOUBLES RESULTS
No. 1: Gjorgji Jankulovski/Louis Keenan (C-N) def. Alexandru Giurea/Hugo Ruiz Espejo (LMU) 6-4
No. 2: Marnix Van Dalen/Paul Gayk (C-N) def. Harper Mills/Sergio Boneta Aranzeta (LMU) 6-2
No. 3: Ethan Hirons/Radu Florea (LMU) def. Matthew Saunders/Leonard Baecker (C-N) 6-2
Carson-Newman advances to the SAC Tournament Semifinals against the two-seed Wingate who swept Anderson in its quarterfinal contest on Wednesday afternoon. The Eagles and Bulldogs battle on Thursday, April 18 at 2 p.m. at the Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, S.C. A free audio stream will be available courtesy of RadioTennis.com.
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