Goshen, IN — If the last two matches are any indication, the Goshen College men’s tennis team is more than ready for the upcoming Mid-Central Conference Tournament.
Goshen (4-6, 2-5) posted its second consecutive landside win Tuesday afternoon, handing Indiana University-Southeast an 8-1 defeat at the Goshen College Tennis Complex. The win came less than a week after the team’s 8-1 defeat of Anderson University (click here for related article) and just two days before the start of the MCC Tournament (click here for article).
In all, it was an uplifting finish to the regular season for Leafs’ head coach Stan King, who said he hopes his team can better last season’s sixth-place finish in the upcoming post-season event this year.
“It was good to get a convincing win in our last dual match of the season before MCC conference tournament competition begins Thursday,” King said. “I was pleased to see the team stay focused, and for the most part aggressive throughout this one, even though some match-ups were rather one-sided.”
That one-sidedness began in doubles competition, as sophomore Joel King teamed with freshman Sashi Sabanathan to hand I.U.-Southeast an 8-0 blanking in the number two flight. An 8-4 win followed at number three doubles and an 8-5 decision was eventually gained by freshmen Sashi Sabanathan and Chanuk Algama in the top flight, giving the Leafs an early 3-0 lead.
Not much changed in singles competition, as Goshen reeled off all five of its decisions in straight sets. Only senior Beakal Girma — who did not participate in doubles competition for only the second time this season — had an off day, dropping his number one singles’ match to Southeast’s Jordan Hamilton by a 6-2, 6-1 count.
“Taking all three doubles is always a great way to start things off,” Stan King said. “Beakal Girma was unavailable for doubles today, and that may have thrown off his rhythm a bit (in singles). Overall though, a very good day.”
Sabanathan was especially impressive in a 6-0, 6-0 win over the Grenadiers’ Adam Denny in number two singles play, while freshman Alex Dominguez and Joel King posted identical 6-3, 6-1 decisions at number three and four singles, respectively, Junior Sheldon Good took care of a competitive opponent at number five singles — a 6-4, 6-3 win over Indiana Southeast’s Tyler Rigby — while Algama posted a 6-3, 6-3 decision at number six.
“Quick singles wins by Sashi Sabanathan and Alex Dominguez gave us the five team points needed to put this one in the win column,” Stan King said. “I was especially happy to see how Sheldon Good and Joel King played hard while steadily moving their matches toward victory. Chanuk Algama has been playing great singles in recent matches, and he continued that trend today, after teaming with Sashi Sabanathan at number doubles, since Beakal Girma was unavailable. I feel like the team is poised and ready for Thursday’s first round doubles and singles matches in the MCC tournament. Hopefully we can continue to play some good tennis there.”
Goshen will travel to Fort Wayne Concordia High School on Thursday to begin play in the MCC Tournament, with doubles competition beginning at 1 p.m. For a detailed look at the Leafs’ pairings and seedings at the event, click here.
Singles:
#1 Jordan Hamilton (IS) def Beakal Girma 6-2, 6-1
#2 Sashi Sabanathan (G) def Adam Denny 6-0, 6-0
#3 Alex Dominguez (G) def Derek Hackney 6-3, 6-1
#4 Joel King (G) def Steve Gogel 6-3, 6-1
#5 Sheldon Good (G) def Tyler Rigby 6-4, 6-3
#6 Chanuk Algama (G) def Collin Gentry 6-3, 6-3
Doubles:
#1 Sabanathan/Algama (G) def Hamilton/Hackney 8-5
#2 Dominguez/King (G) def Gentry/Rigby 8-0
#3 Good/Abebe (G) def Denny/Gogel 8-4
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Junior Sheldon Good