The No. 1 ranked Emory men's tennis team (8-2) concluded its trip to Texas on Friday evening, taking on the No. 14 ranked Trinity Tigers. Coming off a marathon match against Amherst on Thursday evening, the Eagles ran out of gas against the Tigers on Friday night as they fell, 6-3.
The Eagles took the opening match of doubles play, with senior Ryan Glanville and Brandon Cohen winning their bout on court one in dominant fashion, 8-4. With the win, the duo improves their dual match record to 7-2, all coming in the No. 1 doubles position.
Sophomore Dean Kamenev and senior Nolan Shah saw their eight-match winning streak come to a halt on Friday, as they fell in their match on court two, 6-8. Freshman Christian Liew and senior Samuel Dean, playing in the No. 3 doubles position, were the final match of the doubles portion to finish, needing a tiebreaker to decide a winner. However, Liew and Dean fell just short as they dropped the match, 7-8 (3-7).
Emory went into the singles portion of the day trailing the Tigers, 2-1.
Shah snapped a three-match losing streak on Friday when he handedly won his match on court two in straight sets, winning 6-2 and 6-0 to secure the point and tie the match up at 2 apiece.
However, Trinity swiftly ripped off three singles wins to clinch the match win. Cohen dropped his match on court six in straight sets, 4-6 and 1-6. Junior Emilio Van Cotthem also fell in two sets, both sets finishing by a score of 2-6. The Tigers secured the match clinching point on court one, where Kamenev fell in two sets (4-6, 4-6).
After the Tigers had wrapped up the win, Glanville won his match in the No. 3 singles position in straight sets (6-3, 7-6 (7-5)). With the win, Glanville improved his dual record this season to 5-3.
Playing on court four, Liew was the final match of the evening to finish, falling in three sets (4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-7)). The rookie dropped just his second dual match of the year, bringing his record to 8-2 this spring.
With the loss, the Eagles' dual match record slips to 8-2. This is the Eagles' first loss to an NCAA Division III level opponent this spring, with their only other loss coming against NAIA powerhouse, Georgia Gwinnett. Emory will have a chance to bounce back this weekend when they take on in-state foe Berry on Sunday morning. The match against Berry is scheduled to start at 11:00 AM at the Rome Tennis Center.
