OWATONNA, Minn. – The Carleton College men's tennis team came back to defeat College of St. Scholastica, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon in a match moved indoors at West Hills Tennis & Fitness Center due to scattered rain showers in the Northfield, Minn. area.
 
The Knights (4-0, 2-0 MIAC) dropped the best-of-three-doubles point for the first time this season, falling 6-4 at both the No. 1 and No. 3 spots in the lineup. Zach Leslie and Baiyun Jing trailed 5-4 at No. 2 singles but won the next three games to pull out a 7-5 result.
 
"We tried to get our ducks in a row for doubles, but unfortunately we were only able to find pigeons," noted Carleton head coach Stephan Zweifel.
 
However, the Knights were able to rally back with solid play in singles
 
Owen Heidtke got Carleton on the board with his 6-2, 6-1 victory at No. 5 singles. Leslie added a 6-3, 6-3 win at the third slot, and Ezra Bernhard posted a 6-2, 6-2 result at No. 4 singles.
 
St. Scholastica (0-1, 0-1 MIAC) picked up a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 6 singles, but Akshay Garapati and Jing won at the top two spots in the lineup to secure the team victory.
 
Garapati, playing No. 1 singles for the first time at Carleton, raced to a 6-1 win in the opening set before outlasting Mateo Torre 7-6 (7-5) in the second set. Jing rallied to take the first set at No. 2 singles 7-5 before closing out his match with a 6-3 score in the second set.
 
Up Next for the Knights
By virtue of making the finals of the doubles draw at the ITA Midwest Regional at the end of September, Garapata and Jack Rivkin earned a berth in the ITA Cup (formerly known as the Small College Nationals). That competition will be held Oct. 16-19 at the Rome (Ga.) Tennis Center.