HILTON HEAD, S.C. – The Union College men's tennis team had its season-opening five-match winning streak come to an end at the hands of Carleton College, ranked 39th in the latest Oracle/ITA Div. III Men's Rankings, with a 7-2 loss on Monday afternoon at Chaplin Community Park.
Entering the day looking to become the first Union men's tennis team since 1983 to start a season 6-0, the Dutchmen ran into a tough test with the nationally ranked Knights, who moved to 14-0 against D-III opponents this year. Despite the loss, however, Union won two matches and pushed the Knights hard in several other contests.
In doubles play, sophomores
Austin Egna and
Max Egna came up just a few short points in a tiebreaker, falling to Aaron Goodman and Leo Vithoontien at first doubles, 8-7 (10-7). The second-doubles tandem of junior
David Bond and freshman
Ioannis Binopoulos also came one break short in an 8-6 defeat as well.
Freshman
Cameron Klepper got Union on the board first in his third-singles match, coming back from a set down to knock off Lewis White in a supertiebreaker, 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6).
Max Egna also pulled off a comeback of his own, recovering from a first-set loss to defeat Sahil Chhugani in fourth-singles play, 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-5).
Binopoulos also pushed Xander Zuczek hard in their first-singles battle before succumbing, 6-4, 6-4, while
Austin Egna nearly took his second-singles match to a superbreaker as well before falling 6-0, 7-5.
Union will face another tough test tomorrow, when the Dutchmen close out their Spring Break trip against #37 Oberlin College at 9 a.m. in Hilton Head.
