#45 Men's, Women's Tennis sweeps Coker
Hartsville, S.C. – The no. 45 ranked Catawba College Men's and Women's Tennis teams swept the Coker Cobras in conference action at Byerly Park on Thursday, with the men's team earning their second straight 6-1 victory and the women's team bouncing back from their loss against Limestone with a 4-3 win
HOW IT HAPPENED
No. 45 Catawba Men (9-6, 8-1 SAC) 6, Coker Men (3-12, 2-7) 1
- For the second straight matchup, Catawba's men got off to a strong start as they swept all three matches in Doubles play. Both the No. 1 pairing of Edoardo Cecere and Ryan Littleand the No. 3 pairing of Paul Dekester and Tyler Juergensclaimed 6-4 victories. For both duos, these were their fifth straight wins
- Catawba's No. 2 pairing of Mateo Berne and Marcos Casteres rolled to a 6-2 victory over Bernardo Peralta and Samuel Winter to complete the effort
- Cecere opened Singles play with a win over Thibeault Decaluwe from the No. 1 position, earning his eighth straight win with a 6-2 opening set and a 6-3 second frame
- Berne bounced back from a 4-6 loss in the opening set to Tom Lamers on Court No. 2 with a pair of 6-4 victories himself for Catawba's third point
- Juergens would be defeated 8-6 by Samuel Winter on Court No. 3, with Winter giving Coker their lone point of the day
- Alessandro Valletta made it 4-1 Catawba in a thriller against Andy Huynh on Court No. 4, as he took both sets by a score of 7-6 in a nail-biter of a matchup for his fourth-straight singles win
- Casteres joined Valletta with his fourth straight victory as well on the No. 5 court, cruising to an 8-1 win over Joao Casas
- Little picked up his sixth straight Singles win as he completed the day and earned Catawba's sixth point from the No. 6 position, downing Peralta 6-2 and 6-3
HOW IT HAPPENED
Catawba Women (11-5, 6-3 SAC) 4, Coker Women (7-8, 3-6) 3
- Catawba's women earned a hard-fought Doubles point, taking two of three matches.
- After Nika Dundovic and Veronika Poliakovawere defeated 6-4 on the No. 1 Court by Emerson Banning and Jade Bellegy, Ami Miya and Anna Wise took a thrilling win on Court No. 2, battling for a 7-6 victory over Angelina Krieg and Tamara Macias to even the odds
- Sofia Hernandez Mera and Rin Igarashi clinched Catawba the opening point as they left no doubt on Court No. 3, earning a 6-1 win over Caroline Myers and Sierra Salome
- Miya would go down in three sets to open Singles action, taking the first match 6-4 against Bellegy from the No. 1 position but dropping the next pair of contests
- Isidora Zivkovic would also be defeated on the No. 2 court, with Salome eking out a tight 7-6 win in the first set and clinching the point with a 6-2 victory in the second
- Mati Morettiearned Catawba's first Singles' point and tied the match at 2-2 by defeating Krieg on Court No. 3. Moretti won a 7-6 nail-biter in the first set, then kept her momentum as she followed it up with a 6-2 victory in the second
- Vaishnavi Ventakeshdropped a hard-fought three set battle on the No. 4 court to Emerson Banning, who won the first set 6-3. Ventakesh would force a third set with a strong 6-0 victory in the second set, but would be edged out 7-6 in a back-and-forth third frame
- Hernandez Mera tied the match at 3-3 with her fifth straight victory, as she defeated Macias in two sets, 6-4 and 6-1, on Court No. 5
- With everything on the line on the No. 6 court, Igarashi and Myers dueled in an electric final match. Both sets would go into extra play, and it would prove to be Igarashi who held firm on the way to a 7-6 victory in the opening set and a 7-5 triumph in the second to give Catawba the win
UP NEXT
- Both Catawba tennis teams are back in action on Friday, April 5th as they return home to Salisbury to welcome the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears to the Johnson Tennis Center for a 1:00 p.m. showdown