The Emory University men's tennis program is heading back to the Elite Eight for the 33
rd straight season in program history following a 4-0 win over the Sewanee Tigers in the regional final.
The Eagles earned a spot in Sunday's match after defeating the Averett Cougars in the second round. The Tigers went late into the night on Saturday narrowly beating the Redlands Bulldogs to reach the third round on Sunday.
Emory breezed through doubles clinching their first point of the day with back to back wins on courts one and two. The doubles tandem of
Efe Comu and
Ajay Kartik earned another victory in the second doubles position on Sunday afternoon finishing first by a 6-2 margin. Following just a few minutes behind was the duo of
Christian Liew and
Ruilin Feng on court one also taking their match quickly with a 6-2 decision.
On court three, juniors
Dean Kamenev and
John Lasanajak had fallen early in their doubles match but fought their way back to a one-game deficit before their match ended following the clinching point on court one.
Liew got out to a hot start in his singles match on court four jumping to a quick 6-2 decision in the first set. He cruised his way to a 6-0 decision in set two to be the first singles finisher and take Emory's second point of the matchup.
Also moving fast for the Eagles was Liew's double partner Feng who was able to earn Emory's third point of the match with his straight-set victory on court two. He started with a 6-2 win in the first set and dominated the second set 6-1 to put the Eagles one point away from a trip to California.
On court six, Lasanajak had fallen 0-2 to start his first set before taking six straight wins for a 6-2 line after set one. He answered with a 6-1 decision in the second set to clinch the win for the Eagles with a 4-0 decision.
Before the match was clinched, Kamenev had fallen in his first set with a close 4-6 line but bounced back and was leading 4-1 in the second set on court one. Comu was also close to clinching the match for Emory following a 6-2 win in set one and a 4-2 advantage in the second set on the third court. His doubles partner Kartik had also fought his way back to a 6-4 win in set one and was up 3-0 in the second set when the match ended.
The Eagles will take the week to practice before heading to Claremont, California where they will face Tufts in the Elite Eight matchup on Monday, May 19 at the Biszantz Tennis Center.
