C-N Falls to No. 39 Lenoir-Rhyne in Heartbreaker
Carson-Newman dropped a heartbreaker in a contest that came down to the final flight, that came down to tiebreakers with Lenoir-Rhyne prevailing.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman dropped a heartbreaker in a contest that came down to the final flight, that came down to tiebreakers with Lenoir-Rhyne prevailing.
No. 39 Lenoir-Rhyne (6-2, 3-0 South Atlantic Conference) needed all six singles contests to hand Carson-Newman (4-2, 2-1 SAC) its first conference loss of the season.
The match came down to the No. 3 flight in singles where Carson-Newman's Gjorgji Jankulovski (Macedonia) battled back and forth with Lenoir-Rhyne's Zachary Cox. The tone was set in the first set where after the set score was tied at six, Cox took it in tiebreakers 7-4. Jankulovski settled in with a 6-4 win in set two, but Cox battled back tying Jankulovski at six in the third to force tiebreakers for the second time in the flight.
Once again the two sides couldn't be separated as the "win by two" rule forced the tiebreaker to go over the necessary seven points needed to win. Instead, Jankulovski found a couple of match points, but a stretch of three straight from Cox earned himself the tiebreaker 10-8 to win the flight in three sets, and the match, 4-3.
"Our guys are the perfect example of team energy," Carson-Newman Men's Tennis head coach Nathan Gangelhoff said. "Doubles was fantastic. We hit a snag in doubles against UVA Wise, we still won that point, but how we executed some shots today was much cleaner. We want to concentrate and focus more on critical points: the deuces, the break points, the match points. Those are tough and require more focus."
Although C-N dropped four of six doubles matches, the effort was highlighted for the Eagles in the No. 1 flight as Marnix Van Dalen (Netherlands) earned his first win over a ranked opponent in the spring season, upending No. 49 Nevio Dux.
SINGLES RESULTS
No. 1: Marnix Van Dalen (C-N) def. #49 Nevio Dux (L-R) 6-4, 6-4
No. 2: Rufus Plane (L-R) def. Paul Gayk (C-N) 6-2, 6-3
No. 3: Zachary Cox (L-R) def. Gjorgji Jankulovski (C-N) 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-6 (10-8)
No. 4: Vadym Rogynskyi (L-R) def. Louis Keenan (C-N) 6-1, 7-5
No. 5: Matthew Saunders (C-N) def. Lucas Galy (L-R) 6-1, 6-2
No. 6: Raphael Champaud (L-R) def. Leonard Baecker (C-N) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
The Eagles earned the doubles point with quick victories in the No. 2 and No. 3 flights, not allowing the LR pairing of Nevio Dux and Rufus Plane, who entered the match as the No. 25 ranked pairing in Division II according to the International Tennis Association (ITA), to finish.
DOUBLES RESULTS
No. 1: Gjorgji Jankulovski/Louis Keenan (C-N) vs. #25 Nevio Dux/Rufus Plane (L-R) 4-5, unfinished
No. 2: Marnix Van Dalen/Paul Gayk (C-N) def. Vadym Rogynskyi/Burke Rosenbaum (L-R) 6-2
No. 3: Matthew Saunders/Leonard Baecker (C-N) def. Zachary Cox/Lucas Galy (L-R) 6-4
Carson-Newman gets Friday off before returning to action for a non-conference road match in McKenzie, Tenn. taking on NAIA foe Bethel (Tenn.) at 3:00 p.m.
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