The No. 6 Emory University men's tennis earned a hard fought 5-2 victory against No. 21 Gustavus Adolphus College late Saturday night in the consolation round of the ITA National Indoor Championships in St. Peter, MN.
The Eagles secured the doubles point thanks to wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in the lineup with senior Dean Kamenev/freshman Matthew Johnstone posting a 6-4 decision on court two and freshmen Daniel Kim/Stefan Karatosic earning the tiebreak victory 7-6 (3) on court three.
Emory and GAC then went toe-to-tow in singles with four of the six matches needing three sets to decide a winner.
Sophomore Ajay Kartik gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead with his dominant 6-1, 6-2 result at the No. 6 position but the Gusties put the score at 2-1 with a straight set decision over Kamenev at the No. 2 spot.
The match went into the late hours of the night with near three-hour battles on the remaining four courts with the Eagles posting wins at the No. 1, 4 and 5 spots.
Kim gave Emory a 3-1 lead with his 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 line at fourth singles but GAC topped Ryan Nash 5-7, 6-1, 6-7 (5) at the No. 3 position.
Leading 3-2, Johnston and sophomore Ruilin Feng provided the clinching points with their comeback wins on courts five and one. Johnstone erased a 3-6 first set setback to win 7-6 (4) and 6-2 and one court one, Fend fell in a first set tie break 6-7 (5) before rallying with 7-5, 6-2 wins.
The Eagles will conclude their stay in St. Peter on Sunday with a meeting against No. 11 Johns Hopkins University in the tournament's fifth place match starting at 10:30 AM CT/11:30 AM ET.
