Salisbury, N.C. —- The Catawba College Men's Tennis team made their home season debut on Saturday, defeating the Emory & Henry Wasps by a score of 5-2 before dropping a 1-4 contest against the Mount Olive Trojans at the Catawba Tennis Courts to finish the day with a now 3-3 record overall
MATCH ONE / Catawba 5, Emory & Henry 2
- Catawba pairings rolled to a 3-0 start in Doubles action, taking the Doubles point and setting the tone for the rest of the matchup
- Catawba's No. 1 pairing of Edoardo Cecere and Ryan Little and No. 2 pairing of Tyler Juergens and Paul Dekestercruised to 6-1 victories on their respective courts. Cecere and Little took down Kartik Parhar and Branson Smith, while Juergens and Dekester would down Tristan Hicks and Nathan Spurling
- Taketoshi Nanao and Sebastian Zabalawere similarly dominant, ensuring Catawba clinched all three of the doubles matchups with a 6-2 win over Will Bayliss and Diego Alvarez on the No. 3 court
- Cecere would go down in Singles action, being just edged out by Parhar in a battle on the No. 1 court. Cecere took the second set with a score of 7-5 after a 4-6 loss on the opener, but was unable to clinch the win in the third set
- Juergens earned Catawba's first Singles point of the morning by defeating Smith in two sets, 6-3 and 6-2
- Marko Sudardefeated Bayliss to give Catawba a 3-1 lead on the day with a hard fought three-set victory from the No. 3 position. Sudar took the first set with a resounding 6-0 victory, only for Bayliss to eke out a 7-6 win in the second; in the ensuing third set, it would be Sudar to earned the win, 6-4
- Little ensured a Catawba victory from the No. 4 position, putting the home side ahead 4-1 overall with a dominant two-set win over Hicks, 6-0 and 6-0
- Zabala was similarly dominant on Court. No. 5, taking down Spurling 6-1, 6-0 for another two-set Catawba victory
- Luca Ricciardi would be defeated by Alvarez by a score of 8-2 on Court No. 6
MATCH TWO / Catawba 1, Mount Olive 4
- Cecere and Little picked up their second Doubles win of the day, taking down Guilherme Zotin and Kristoffer Dalbak by a score of 6-1 on the No. 1 court
- However, Juergens and Dekester would be defeated 6-4 on the No. 2 court by Niklas Gruenefeldt and Adam Ibrahim, while on the No. 3 court Mount Olive's tandem of Lenn Hoffman and Bram Poel would beat Nanao and Zabala to give the Trojans the Doubles point
- Cecere bounced back from his earlier Singles loss in the Emory & Henry match as he took down Zotin in a three-set thriller. After dropping the first set 4-6, Cecere took set two with a score of 6-2 and then clinched the win with a 7-5 victory in the final frame
- Juergens lost a hard-fought battle on Court No. 2, dropping a pair of close 6-7 contests to Gruenefeldt
- Little bounced back from a 1-6 first set to even the matchup on Court No. 4 with a 7-6 win in the second set, but was edged out by Poel 6-2 in the third as the Trojans clinched a 3-1 lead
- Marcos Castereswould be defeated on Court No. 6 in two sets by Ibrahim, 5-7 and 4-6
- The Catawba Men's Tennis team are back in action on Tuesday, as they head to Chattanooga, Tenn. to compete in the Scenic City College Tennis Spring Tournament, facing North Georgia at 10 a.m.
