The No. 7 ranked Emory men's tennis team played its first match of the spring on their home outdoor courts, welcoming #20 Carnegie Mellon to the Woodruff P.E. Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Looking to win their third match of the weekend, the Eagles swiftly handled the Tartans, with a 6-1 win over the UAA-foe.
 
The Eagles stumbled a bit out of the gate, with the Tartans controlling the matches on all three doubles courts. Yet, the Eagles quickly found their footing and rallied for a pair of wins on courts one and two. It was freshman Ajay Kartik and junior Dean Kamenev in the No. 1 position, being the first to finish by a score of 6-3. Sophomore Christian Liew and freshman Ruilin Feng finished moments after with a 6-4 win on court two to secure the match's doubles point. Graduate students Efe Comu and Charley Force battled on court three but were on the wrong side of a 6-4 result.
 
The Eagles entered the singles portion of the afternoon with a 1-0 lead and looking for three wins during singles play to secure a victory over the Tartans.
 
Kamenev kept it rolling right along, dominating his way to a quick win in straight sets on court four. The junior turned in a final line of 6-2, 6-2 and was the first singles match to finish. A little over 30 minutes later, junior John Lasanajak won his match on court six (7-6(4), 6-2) to put the Eagles on the brink of victory.
 
It was the veteran, Force, on court five that would eventually seal things up for the Eagles. Force won the first set with ease by a score of 6-2. The graduate student traded games in the second set, but ultimately won the battle at 7-5 to clinch the match-winning fourth point for Emory.
 
After the Eagles had wrapped up a win, Feng took down his match on court two (6-4, 7-5). After dropping his first set, Liew rallied to win the following two sets to win his match on court three (3-6, 6-4, 6-2).
 
Comu battled on court one, winning his first set, 7-6(5), before his opponent forced a superset to decide the winner. Comu fell into a 5-1 hole in which he could not climb out of as he fell, 10-7, in the final frame. His final line came to 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-10.
 
The win elevates Emory to 7-1 in dual match play this spring. The Eagles will next head to Florida for a few matches over Emory's spring break. They'll start with a pair of matches in Orlando with #18 RPI on Saturday, March 8^th before taking on #4 Case Western Reserve on Monday, March 10^th. Emory will wrap up its trip to the Sunshine State with a clash against Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida on Wednesday, March 12^th.