The No. 6 ranked Emory University men's tennis team concluded its weekend in Minnesota on Sunday, falling to No. 11 Johns Hopkins 4-3 in the fifth place match of the ITA National Indoor Championships.
The Eagles started the scoring by taking the doubles point with wins coming on courts one and three. The tandem of sophomores Ruilin Feng and Ajay Kartik posted a 6-3 win on the top court and then freshmen Stefan Karatosic and Daniel Kim came through with the clinch on three, 6-4. When doubles play concluded, senior Dean Kamenev and freshman Matthew Johnstone were tied at 6-6 in their match on two.
Singles play came down to the wire with the match being decided by a third-setter on court.
Feng and Johnstone collected straight set wins for the Eagles with Feng dominating 6-1, 6-0 at the No. 1 spot and Johnstone recording a 6-2, 6-3 line on court five.
The Blue Jays saw initial wins come from the No. 2, 3, 4 positions with courts two and four needing three sets to upend Kamenev and Kim.
With the score level at 3-3, all attention turned to court six where Kartik was going against JHU's Joshua Kim. Kartik claimed the first set, 6-4, but Kim controlled the remaining two sets to clinch the win 7-6 (6), 6-4.
The Eagles will look to rebound this Wednesday as they return home to host #33 Washington & Lee at 3:00 PM at the WoodPEC.