DES MOINES, Iowa — Buoyed by a sweep of the doubles matches, the Carleton College men's tennis team posted a 7-2 victory over regional foe Grinnell College. The result improves the Knights record to 7-1 during the winter portion of the season.
"It took our best effort to down a tough Grinnell squad today," said Carleton head coach
Stephan Zweifel, "but pulling out the doubles sweep again was a game changer."
Newcomers
Zach Leslie (Fy./Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn) and
Jack Rivkin (Fy./Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) combined on an 8-3 triumph at the third slot, while veterans
Yuv Kataria (Jr./Kolkata, India/Weil Academy & College Prep) and
Aniketh Vipparla (Jr./Cary, N.C./Green Hope) notched an 8-4 victory at the second spot to improve to 4-1 on the season.
The No. 1 doubles match was much tighter.
Ozzie Viswanathan (Sr./Lincolnshire, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) and
Tarm Rojanasoonthon (So./Bangkok, Thailand/Chulalongkorn) teamed up for the first time in their careers, eventually securing an 8-7 (9-7) win atop the lineup.
The Knights won 4 of the 6 singles matches.
Cooper Kline (Fy./Los Angeles, Calif./The Buckley School) was the first to finish, picking up a 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 triumph at No. 5 singles. Viswanathan followed with a straight sets victory at the fourth slot, 6-2 and 6-4.
Grinnell picked up its first team point with the win at No. 6 singles, but Kataria added another mark in Carleton's column with a come-from-behind victory. He dropped the first set 5-7, but bounced back to take the match by scores of 6-2 and 1-0 (11-9).
"Yuv's match at No. 2 singles was a great reflection of the entire evening," Zweifel said, "hard fought, high level, and able to channel his superpower of overthinking."
Rojanasoonthon moved his singles record to 6-0 after dispatching the Pioneers' Leo Esztergomi by a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 tally.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton's next match is not for another month when the team heads to Hilton Head, S.C. for Spring Break. The Knights open that trip with a March 20 match against St. Lawrence University.
