By: Matthew Plementosh
Box Score Barbourville, KY - Right after the UC men's tennis team was awarded the 20
th spot in the NAIA Men's Coaches' Poll, the Patriots dropped a tough loss to 15
th-ranked Union College on Wednesday afternoon. With the loss the Patriots drop to 2-1 on the season, as the Bulldogs improve to 2-1.
UC found success in the doubles side of the event as the #1 doubles team of
Martin Barbier and
Eric Banoub battled for the 8-6 win against Srdan Pejic and Ewan McKinnie to give the Patriots a 1-0 lead. At the #2 doubles position,
Aatu Merenheimo and
Luis Montull took the hard fought victory against Mark Khuenel and Santiago Diaz by the score of 8-3 to extend the lead to 2-0. The Bulldogs did not allow the doubles sweep however as Mateo Gonzalez and Alex Kostka took down
Anthony Kwok and
Jan Dietrich 8-3 cutting the lead to 2-1.
With a 2-1 advantage going into the singles side of the match, Union College took control winning all six matches for the 7-2 final. In the #1 singles match, Merenheimo took on Union's Pejic, Merenheimo battled but ultimately fell 2-6, 6-7. With the match tied 2-2, #2 singles Barbier squared off against Simon Campos who won it 6-7, 6-3, 6-7. With the Bulldogs first lead of the day they looked to extend it at the #3 singles position, Lois Castellon ended up taking down Montull 6-4, 6-4. Banoub followed next at #4 singles against Gonzalez, Gonzalez took the match with a final score of 6-4, 6-3. With the 5-2 lead, #5 singles player Kosta defeated
Sjoerd Nijssen 6-7, 6-2, 11-9. In the final match of the day freshman
Jan Dietrich fell to Diaz 5-7, 4-6 which sealed the victory for the Bulldogs.
The Patriots will return to the court Friday, March 1, as the face Thomas More in a road contest at 2:30 p.m.
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