Box Score ORLANDO, FL – The Carleton College men's tennis team absorbed its first loss in more than six weeks, falling 7-2 to Hobart College in a neutral site match at the USTA National Campus.
"We ran into a very talented squad from Hobart, and they made us pay for our slow start," said Carleton head coach
Stephan Zweifel. "But I was still pleased to see how we fought to the very last point."
The match, which started shortly after sunrise, began with singles play. The Statemen (3-3) won five of those contests, claiming the team result. Carleton (8-2) saw its first team point from
Cooper Kline (Fy./Los Angeles, Calif./The Buckley School), who prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 at No. 6 singles for his team-leading eighth victory of the campaign.
"Another great performance by Cooper today," Zweifel said. "His style of play is similar to Cryptocurrency… I don't understand it, but I am intrigued by it."
Both
Tarm Rojanasoonthon (So./Bangkok, Thailand/Chulalongkorn) and
Tate Fuller (So./Seattle, Wash./Lakeside) took the second set of their contests to tiebreakers before falling 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) and 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively.
Despite the team result already having been determined, the Knights battled throughout doubles play.
Ozzie Viswanathan (Sr./Lincolnshire, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) and
Zach Leslie (Fy./Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn) took down their regionally-ranked opponents at No. 2 doubles by an 8-3 margin.
At No. 1 doubles, Rojanasoonthon and Fuller squared off against Hobart's nationally-ranked duo but eventually absorbed an 8-6 setback, snapping a month-long win streak for the Knights' top tandem.
Yuv Kataria (Jr./Kolkata, India/Weil Academy & College Prep) and
Aniketh Vipparla (Jr./Cary, N.C./Green Hope) dropped the No. 3 doubles match by the same score, halting their three-match win streak.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will take a day off of competition before facing Hope College at 11:30 a.m. EDT on Thursday, March 23.
