The No. 9 ranked Emory men's tennis team (11-5) welcomed the Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies to the Woodruff P.E. Center for a mid-week matchup. The meeting served as a rematch from late March when the Grizzlies topped the Eagles, 6-1. While the Eagles were able to steal the match's doubles point, the Grizzlies claimed victory once more over the Eagles with a 4-1 win.
Looking to secure their fifth straight win, the Eagles jumped out to a quick lead when they won the doubles point. Junior
John Lasanajak and freshman
Alec Anghel got the Eagles moving in the right direction with their 6-3 win on court two. Sophomore
Christian Liew and freshman
Ruilin Feng saw their 11-match winning-streak come to an end on Tuesday, as they fell 3-6 on court one.
It came down to a pair of freshmen on court three, with
Ajay Kartik and
Joshua Lai looking to secure the doubles point. The rookies pushed the match to a tiebreaker and ultimately came away with a 7-6(8) win to notch the doubles point for the Eagles.
Yet, the Grizzlies' depth shone through as they were able to rattle off four singles wins to end the Eagles upset bid.
Feng's dominant rookie season hit a speedbump on Tuesday, falling on court one (3-6, 2-6). His doubles teammate fell beside him on court two, also in straight sets (3-6, 1-6). Anghel and Lasanajak were also dispatched in straight sets as the Grizzlies secured the win. Anghel fell on court four (2-6, 0-6) while Lasanajak dropped his match on court six (1-6, 4-6).
The match was played to clinch, with the remaining matches being suspended. Playing in the No. 3 position, Kartik dropped his first set, 6(6)-7, but won the second, 6-3. His third set was tied at one point apiece before the match was suspended. Lai dropped his first set, 4-6, and was trailing 2-4 in the second set when his match was suspended.
The Eagles drop to 11-5 with the loss. They'll conclude their regular season this weekend when they head to San Antonio, Texas for a couple of matches. They'll start with #30 Trinity (TX) on Friday at 11:00 AM before they clash with #16 Pomona-Pitzer at 12:00 PM on Sunday.
