ORLANDO, Fla. – The Carleton College men's tennis team improved to 8-1 on the season after starting its time at the USTA national campus with an 8-1 triumph over St. Lawrence University.
This was the Knights' first outdoor match of 2023, and Carleton look right at home playing under sunny skies.
The doubles matches were tightly contested, with two of the three going into the Knights' win column.
Ozzie Viswanathan (Sr./Lincolnshire, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) and
Tarm Rojanasoonthon (So./Bangkok, Thailand/Chulalongkorn) won 8-5 atop the lineup, while
Yuv Kataria (Jr./Kolkata, India/Weil Academy & College Prep) and
Aniketh Vipparla (Jr./Cary, N.C./Green Hope) pulled out a narrow victory at No. 2 doubles. The two juniors finally edged their opponents by an 8-7 (12-10) margin.
"That doubles match was as tight as my shirt after the all-you-can-eat seafood buffet," said Carleton head coach
Stephan Zweifel. 'Lots of credit to Aniketh and Yuv for their gutsy performance."
The No. 3 doubles match also required a tiebreaker, but this time the Saints picked up the 8-7 (7-2) decision.
There was noticeably less drama during singles play as Carleton won all six matches, five of them in straight sets.
Viswanathan got the solo sweep started with a convincing 6-2, 6-0 result at No. 5 singles. "Great display of court coverage by Ozzie today," Zweifel said. 'He can move faster than a toddler when asked what is in their mouth."
Rojanasoonthon improved to 7-0 at No. 1 singles this season after turning in a 6-1, 7-5 score.
Tate Fuller (So./Seattle, Wash./Lakeside) contributed a 6-2, 6-4 victory at the second slot, while
Zach Leslie (Fy./Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn) prevailed by a similar tally (6-4, 6-2) at No. 4 singles.
Cooper Kline (Fy./Los Angeles, Calif./The Buckley School) picked up his seventh win of the season, defeating his opponent at No. 6 singles by a 64, 7-5 margin. Kataria had the toughest test in singles but prevailed in a super tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 10-4.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will get an early start on Tuesday, March 21, as the Knights square off against Hobart College at 8:00 a.m. EDT.
