Gutsy effort pushes Eagles first win of season over Tornados
BREVARD, N.C. -- The Carson-Newman men's tennis team (1-3, 1-1 SAC) picked up its first win of the season as the Eagles edged passed the Brevard Tornados (4-5, 0-3 SAC) to a final score of 5-4.
BREVARD, N.C. -- The Carson-Newman men's tennis team (1-3, 1-1 SAC) picked up its first win of the season as the Eagles edged passed the Brevard Tornados (4-5, 0-3 SAC) to a final score of 5-4.
The victory snaps a three match-losing skid for the Eagles.
Carson-Newman struggled early on as it dropped two of the three doubles matches to begin the day. J.P. Oliveira (Brazil) and Austin Mackay (Oak Ridge, TN) picked up the lone doubles victory for C-N by beating a Tornado duo to an 8-3 advantage.
"We came out flat in doubles," coach Jean Love said. "We had a lot of work to do in singles."
Carson-Newman bounced back quickly, wining their first three singles matches. Senior Garret Duron (Woodstock, GA) won 6-0 in two sets to pick up a victory at No. 6 singles. Juan Sabastain Perez (Ecuador) and Kevin Mendes (Woodstock, GA) followed suit with winning scores of 6-4, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-2 respectively.
After dropping two of the final three singles matches, the Eagles finally secured their first win of the season off senior Austin Mackay's straight set victory at No. 4.
While Oliveira dropped his No. 1 singles match, he extended the match to three sets and drew high praise from his head coach.
"Although J.P. lost at No.1 singles, he fought hard by losing in a third set tiebreak," Love said. "By extending his opponent to a third set, J.P really took some pressure off Austin."
Coach Jean Love had nothing but praise for her team following the narrow victory.
"It was a great win for us," Love said. "It was a gutsy effort."
Carson-Newman will return home to take on the Anderson Trojans Monday afternoon at 1 p.m.
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