Catawba ends C-N’s season in the first round of the SAC tournament
The #8 Catawba Indians bested the Eagles in the SAC Quarterfinals with a 5-0 final.
VIDEO: Nate Gangelhoff Interview
SUMTER, S.C. – The #8 Catawba Indians bested the Eagles in the SAC Quarterfinals with a 5-0 final.
It was a bright and sunny morning on the campus of the Palmetto Center, but made for the hottest conditions that Carson-Newman has had to face this season.
Despite the score, the Eagles pushed the ranked Catawba Indians at every line. Catawba was playing as the one seed in the tournament, while the Eagles were the 8th seed.
"I think my biggest takeaway is that our guys had a tremendous amount of heart and fight. They weren't scared of the opponent. They weren't scared of the moment," said head coach Nate Gangelhoff. "They did their very best to win the points that matter, to be aggressive first, and to cheer on their teammates."
In doubles, Yassin Ali and Leonard Baecker had trouble finding a rhythm at the ones pair. They went down 6-1 to the #15 pair in the nation Agustin Mastri and Luca Bergonzi. Then, Darko Kolevski and Giancarlo Rosario lost to Alessandro Valletta and Mateo Berne 6-4 at third doubles.
Max Stollecker and Louis Keenan were up 5-4 at second doubles against the #45 pair in the country when Catawba clinched.
In singles, Max Stollecker was the first to finish. The sophomore dropped a 6-2, 6-3 contest to Santiago Passoni. In his first season with C-N, Stollecker was 10-6 in his singles matches.
At fifth singles, Darko Kolevski took Alen Bill to 7-5 in the first set, but lost before falling in the second 6-3. Kolevski finishes the season 3-4 in his singles matches.
On opposite ends of the lineup, Giancarlo Rosario and Louis Keenan finished their matches simultaneously at sixth and first singles, respectively. Rosario lost 6-3, 6-4, while Keenan dropped a 6-2, 6-4 match to the #51 singles player in the nation and two-time SAC player of the year, Agustin Mastri.
Yassin Ali had won his first set at third singles in thrilling fashion, coming back from a 4-1 deficit to win 7-6 (7-4 in the tiebreak). He was down 4-1 in the second when Catawba clinched. The freshman wraps up his season at 4-7 in singles play.
Finally, Leonard Baecker had lost his first set 6-3, and was locked in a close set two at fourth singles. The sophomore was down in the second 6-5 when the match ended. Baecker finished his season at 7-6 in singles overall.
"It's great to have this experience as a young team and hopefully it kind of fuels our fire going into the summer and fall season next year," said Gangelhoff. "We're just we're going to keep building our resume and our collegiate experience and hopefully in the years to come it will pay off big time. "
In the series with Catawba, the Eagles are 9-8 and have now lost three straight matches to the Catawba Indians.
"I'm super proud of our young guys being resilient and being determined to still get here, to still compete with these amazing players and not back down and to attack," said Gangelhoff.
Carson-Newman Men's Tennis wraps up the season 6-17 overall. They were 4-7 in SAC play and finished 8th in the conference standings.
