The Emory men's tennis team traveled to Lawrenceville, Georgia to take on the Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies on Monday afternoon. While Emory started the day strong with a sweep of the doubles matches, the Grizzlies won all six singles bouts to pull away with a 6-1 triumph over the Eagles.
The Eagles got things started in Lawrenceville with seniors Ryan Glanville and Brandon Cohen winning their match on court one by a score of 7-5. Senior Nolan Shah and sophomore Dean Kamenev kept it rolling on court two with a 6-3 decision. Shah and Kamenev are now 6-0 on the year out of the No. 2 doubles position. Senior Samuel Dean and freshman Christian Liew finished off the sweep with a 6-2 win in the No. 3 doubles position.
The Eagles secured the match's doubles point and went into the singles portion of the day with a 1-0 lead. However, the NAIA powerhouse and reigning National Champion Grizzlies dominated the singles matches, sweeping all six in straight sets.
Kamenev took on the Grizzlies' Alex Gurmendi, a four-time ITA Singles All-American, on court one. Gurmendi's experience shown through as he handed Kamenev his first singles loss of the dual match season in two sets by scores of 6-3 and 6-4.
Shah took on GGC's Aleksa Ciric, an ITA All-American last season, on court two. The senior suffered his first singles loss of the spring, dropping both sets, 6-1 and 6-4.
Playing in the No. 3 singles position, Glanville dropped his first set, 6-1, before rallying to force a tiebreaker in the second. However, he could not pull out the win as he lost the tiebreaker, 7-6 (4).
Liew also suffered his first loss during singles play of his spring as he lost in two sets, 6-4 and 6-2, on court four.
Cohen saw his first singles action of the dual meet season on Monday. Cohen lost his match in straight sets as well, both sets finishing with a score of 6-1.
Freshman Robinson Luo wrapped up the day for Emory on court six, falling 6-0 and 6-1.
The men's tennis team will be back in action on Wednesday as they prepare to host No. 10 ranked Denison at the Woodruff P.E. Center for a dual meet. The match against Denison will get started at 2:00 PM.
