Tennis falls against #8/16 North Georgia in day one at Scenic City Invite
Chattanooga, Tenn. —- The Catawba College Men's team opened play at the Scenic City College Tennis Spring Tournament by taking on the North Georgia Nighthawks, dropping a 5-1 contest, while the women fell 4-3.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Catawba started off on the front foot, earning the Doubles point by a score of 2-0. Both the No. 2 pair of Paul Dekester and Tyler Jeurgens and the No. 3 pair of Taketoshi Nanao and Sebastian Zabalawon their matches by a score of 6-3. Juergens and Dekester are now 6-1 on the season as a pairing, while Nanao and Zabala are 5-2
- Edoardo Cecere and Ryan Little took on Joaquin Benoit and Robin Eldin on Court No. 1, in a match that would end as a 5-5 no-contest
- Cecere led Catawba off in Singles play from the No. 1 position, though he would be defeated by Joaquin Benoit over a pair of 6-2 sets
- Juergens took on Giulio Sassi on the No. 2 court, though Sassi would emerge victorious with a 6-0, 6-2 win
- Alessandro Valleta would also be defeated in a pair of 6-2 sets on the No. 3 court, with Robin Eldin putting North Georgia up 3-1
- Ryan Little and Charistopher Carhour played out a thriller on Court No. 4, with Carhour emerging victorious after a 6-4 opening set and a 6-5 second set to clinch for North Georgia
- Zabala would drop a two-set contest to Maros Castellanos, 1-6 and 0-6
- Marcos Casteres and Eliseo Alcalde would play out a no-contest, with Alcalde taking the first set 6-4 and Casteres winning the second one 6-3 on Court No. 6
- North Georgia's women swept in Doubles action to earn the opening point, as all three Catawba pairings would go down in matches that finished 2-6. Rin Igarashi and Ami Miya competed on the No. 1 court, followed by Sofia Hernandez Mera and Veronika Poliakova on the No. 2 court and Tina Gomes playing alongside Nika Dundovicon the No. 3 court
- For both the duo of Igarashi and Miya and the pairing of Poliakova and Hernandez Mera, the losses snap a five-match win streak; both tandems are now 5-2 on the year
- Anna Wiseled off for Catawba in Singles' action, dropping a two-set contest to Angelia Linnikova in the No. 1 position. After dropping the first set 0-6, Wise would nearly rally to force a third frame, just being edged out 6-7 in the second set
- Miya looked to begin the Catawba comeback on the No. 2 as she took down Viktorie Wojcikova in a pair of 6-4 sets, scoring Catawba's first point of the day to make it 1-2. Miya has now won six straight from Singles play, sitting at 7-1 to open the season
- Isidora Zivkovictied the matchup at 2-2 by defeating Johanna Lippert in a pair of 6-2 sets on Court No. 3. The win kept Zivkovic level with Miya at 7-1 in Singles action this season, riding a similar six-match win streak
- Mati Morettiwould drop a hard-fought contest to Ashley Moinard on Court No. 4, with the match going three sets. After dropping the first set 4-6, Moretti rallied with a 6-3 victory in the second set to force a third, but would lose out 5-10 to Moinard
- Poliakova took a tough loss in two sets, 0-6 and 1-6, on Court No. 5, with Svetlana Teterina giving North Georgia their decisive fourth point
- Vaishnavi Ventakeshearned a point back for Catawba on Court No. 6, defeating Valentina Azcarrunz in two sets, 6-4 and 6-3. The win keeps Ventakesh undefeated to start the season, now 4-0 in Singles play
UP NEXT
- The Catawba College tennis teams will look to return to their winning ways in their second day of competition at the Scenic City College Tennis Spring Tournament tomorrow morning, as they gear up to take on the Young Harris Mountain Lions at 9 a.m.