BARBOURVILLE, Ky.— The Montreat men's tennis team battled the (RV) Union College Bulldogs in an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) contest Thursday afternoon in Barbourville, Ky. Despite a valiant effort, the Cavaliers lost a 5-2 decision and saw their record fall to 5-4 (5-3 AAC) on the year.
Union (7-4, 5-0 AAC) stormed out to a 1-0 lead on the Cavs thanks to a sweep of all three doubles matches. The Bulldogs won on the top court in a tight battle, 6-4, while claiming victory on the second and third courts with 6-3 and 6-1 scores, respectively.
Anouar Braham notched a point for Montreat in singles action thanks to his win at No. 1. The Sousse, Tunisia native powered past his opponent with a 2-set sweep (6-3, 6-4); however, Union also tallied 2-set victories at No. 3 (6-4, 6-1), No. 4 (6-4, 6-0) and No. 5 (6-1, 6-1) to ensure a team triumph for the hosts.
While a competitive 3-set match on the No. 2 court fell Union's way (4-6, 6-2, 7-5),
Hugo Rodriguez brought the Cavaliers closer to the Bulldogs at No. 6. Rodriguez, who also plays on the Montreat men's soccer team, utilized a 2-6, 6-2, 10-6 win to hand the visitors their second and final point of the day.
As the dust settled on Thursday, UC ultimately avenged last year's pair of losses to the Cavs with a 5-2 victory.
The Montreat men's tennis team hosts No. 3 Tennessee Wesleyan University next Thursday in the Cavaliers' home finale. Doubles play is slated to begin at 12:30 p.m. in Montreat, N.C.
(RV) Union College 5, Montreat College 2
Doubles:
1. Luke Geduldt/Sebastiano Zorzi (UC) def.
Anouar Braham/
Jovan Slijepcevic (MONT) 6-4
2. Kacper Gorecki/Victor Lopes (UC) def.
Elisey Kalashnikov/
Hugo Rodriguez (MONT) 6-3
3. Joao Cardoso/Harry Jordan (UC) def.
Jose Tomala/
Daniel Sanchez de Pedro (MONT) 6-1
Singles:
1.
Anouar Braham (MONT) def. Sebastiano Zorzi (UC) 6-3, 6-4
2. Kacper Gorecki (UC) def.
Elisey Kalashnikov (MONT) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
3. Victor Lopes (UC) def.
Jovan Slijepcevic (MONT) 6-4, 6-1
4. Harry Jordan (UC) def.
Daniel Sanchez de Pedro (MONT) 6-4, 6-0
5. Luke Geduldt (UC) def.
Jose Tomala (MONT) 6-1, 6-1
6.
Hugo Rodriguez (MONT) def. Henning Ebersohn (UC) 2-6, 6-2, 10-6
