The No. 16 ranked Emory University men's tennis team fell in the semifinals of the UAA Championships Friday afternoon, 4-1, to top-ranked and top-seeded UChicago at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
Following the defeat, the Eagles will play in the third-place match Saturday morning against No. 5 ranked Carnegie Mellon University beginning at 8:30 AM.
In Friday's semifinal, the Maroons seized the early lead in the match by claiming the doubles point in tiebreaker fashion. UChicago grabbed the first win, 6-3, on court three before the Eagles answered with a 6-2 decision from sophomore Ruilin Feng and Ajay Kartik on the No. 1 position. On court two, senior John Lasanajak and freshman Daniel Kim took the UC pairing of Murugesan/Koduri to a tiebreak, but the Maroons clinched the point with a 7-6 (4) decision.
As play moved to singles, Chicago moved ahead by a 3-0 count following straight set results on courts three and five, but Feng avoided the shutout for the Eagles as he came through with a 7-5, 6-0 triumph on the No. 1 court.
However, Emory could not move closer in the match as the Maroons found the match clincher on court six as former Eagle, Christian Liew, defeated junior Ryan Nash 6-4, 6-1 to conclude the match.
When play was halted, Kartik had just forced a third set on four at 1-6, 7-6 (9) while senior Dean Kamenev was locked into a 2-6, 6-5 battle on court two.
