Close match with #24 LMU wraps up with a 4-1 loss
The Eagles fought to keep matches on court as long as possible, but fell short in the SAC contest.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Eagles fought to keep matches on court as long as possible, but fell short in the SAC contest.
Lincoln Memorial has had the Eagles' number throughout the series, now with a 14-5 all-time record against C-N.
"They're a super strong team. Super strong program. Have a lot of respect for them and and what they do," said head coach Nate Gangelhoff. "I saw a lot of fight from our guys, not giving up, not letting their high-level play scare us and what we could do. We landed a couple good punchesand we kind of woke them up."
In doubles, Louis Keenan and Max Stollecker fell in a 6-2 decision, and Darko Kolevski and Giancarlo Rosario fought to a close 6-4 loss, giving the Railsplitters the doubles point.
Yassin Ali and Leonard Baecker were up 4-3 on court one when LMU clinched.
Max Stollecker was the lone win on the board that finished for C-N. At second singles, the Slovenian ran through Mathias Roy 6-1, 6-1. The sophomore is now 9-5 on the season.
Louis Keenan fell at first singles in straight sets at 6-2, 6-1, moving his record to 3-9 overall. Giancarlo Rosario was similar at the sixth line, with a 6-3, 6-1 loss.
Darko Kolevski was up in the first set 6-2, and looked as though he was going to finish his match in a timely fashion, but it took a turn, and he narrowly dropped the match for his third singles loss of the year. His score was 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in favor of LMU.
Leonard Baecker fought to keep the team on court. After losing in the first set 6-4, he was in jeopardy of giving the Railsplitters the close, down 5-2 at one point. The sophomore held to a 5-5 score before Kolevski finished.
Yassin Ali was down a set at third singles with a 6-2 loss in the first frame. The freshman rebounded nicely, though, with a 6-1 win in the second. Despite being up 4-1 in the third, his match would go unfinished.
Carson-Newman is now 5-15 overall and 3-7 in conference play. C-N is currently tied with UVA Wise for the final spot in the conference tournament but holds the edge in that seeding tiebreaker with a head-to-head win over Wise. The Eagles have their final regular-season match at home on Saturday when they host Newberry.
"It's basically a must-win for us, you know, in terms of we know where we want to go for postseason," said Gangelhoff. "Newberry should not be underestimated. They're still a conference team. They're still a team that they're going to come in here and try to beat us as best they can."
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