The No. 16 ranked Emory University men's tennis team concluded the 2026 University Athletic Association Championship with a win over No. 5 Carnegie Mellon University, 4-2, in the Third Place Match. It is the fourth consecutive season the Eagles have finished third at the UAA Championships.
Emory opened the final match of the week in Altamonte Springs, Florida by taking the doubles point against Tartans with wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 courts. Sophomores Ruilin Feng and Ajay Kartik picked up another win on the top court with a 6-1 decision before senior John Lasanajak and freshman Daniel Kim secured the clinching 6-3 result.
Kartik and senior Dean Kamenev pushed the Eagles on the brink of the win with their decisions on courts two and four, with both coming via 6-4, 6-2 margins.
Carnegie Mellon kept pace however as the Tartans grabbed wins at the No. 1 and No. 6 spots to put the score at 3-2.
In the final two matches, Kim and classmate Matthew Johnstone were entrenched with three setters. Kim forced a third on court three with his 14-12 tiebreaker win in the second set while Johnstone forced a third on court five, going 6-4 after dropping the first set by the same score.
In the final sets, Johnstone opened up to a 4-0 lead before his counterpart, Ian Miller rallied with three points to extend the set. As Miller was rallying, Kim rode the momentum of his second set tiebreak to a clean 6-0 win in the third for the match clincher for the Eagles.
With the win, Emory concludes the season at 12-10 and will now await to hear its NCAA postseason fate when the tournament field is revealed on Monday, May 4 on NCAA.com.
