The No. 4-ranked Emory men's tennis team saw its hopes to battle for the conference crown fall short on Friday afternoon as it dropped a semifinal round match to Carnegie Mellon at the University Athletic Association Championships. The No. 9-ranked Tartans raised their overall record to 17-5 (2-0 UAA) following a 6-3 decision over the Eagles who slipped to 16-6, 2-1 in the league. The Championships are being are held at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
Emory found itself staring at a 3-0 deficit after CMU swept the doubles portion of the contest. The Eagles battled back to claim the first two points of singles play with junior Eric Halpern raising his record to 21-7 on the year with a 6-4, 6-0, triumph over Christian Heaney Secord at No. 2, and senior Nick Szczurek coming away with a 6-2, 6-3, verdict over Kenny Zheng at No. 5, his fifth straight victory and 17th in 24 decisions this season. A win by CMU at six singles put it just one point from clinching the match, where it shortly accomplished that with Will Duncan's triumph at No. 3. After CMU posted the win at No. 4 singles, junior Alex Ruderman, the No. 1 seeded singles player in the Atlantic South Region, accounted for the other Emory point with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 decision over Alla Abhishek, the No. 3-seeded performer in the region. The win upped Ruderman's won-lost slate to 19-3.
Emory will meet No. 10-ranked Case Western (15-6) in the third-place match on Saturday that is slated for a 9:00 am start. The Spartans fell to No. 2-ranked Washington University in the other semifinal round match. Today's setback to the Tartans ended a 26-year streak for the Eagles of advancing to the title contest of the UAA Championships.
