Upland, IN — The Goshen College men’s tennis team opened both its 2007 season and Mid-Central Conference slate at Taylor University Tuesday afternoon, dropping the match by a 3-6 score.
The host Trojans took two of three doubles matches and then won all but the number two and four singles slots to cruise to the win, while half of Goshen’s 12 total positions were occupied by newcomers.
“Taylor has a strong team and they took us with relative ease at the lower end of the lineup,” said Stan King, Goshen head coach. “But it was good to see us have some success at number two doubles and to make it close at number one. As a team, we obviously have a lot of work to do to place more pressure on our opponents up and down the lineup.
Goshen (0-1, 0-1) received strong play from senior Beakal Gima and Alex Dominguez at the number two doubles slot, as the tandem took an 8-6 decision over Taylor. Dominguez was forced to retire just five games into his number three singles match, however, citing heat exhaustion in a 5-0, retired decision.
“Alex has been nursing tendonitis in his Achilles tendon for the past week, but that's not what seemed to bother him in the Taylor match,” King said. “I am concerned, however, about the heat exhaustion. It happened once in practice about a week ago. He's perhaps not adjusted to playing under the hot, humid conditions we've had recently.”
Already down a point with Dominguez’s retirement, Goshen turned to freshman Sashi Sabanathan and sophomore Joel King for solid points at number two and four singles, respectively. Sabanathan breezed past Taylor’s Jorge Brumicky by a 6-3, 6-3 count, while King had to work a bit harder for a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 decision over the Trojans’ Kyle Brown.
“Sashi Sabanathan played a smart game in his singles match, playing within his game and exploiting weakness of his opponent,” King said. “It's good to see the type of tennis he is capable of and is playing. A lot of Joel King's win was based on shear determination. He hung in there and didn't give up, though the direction of play didn't look very good in much of the third set.”
The closest the Leafs came to picking up an additional point came at number one doubles, where Sabanathan and King teamed to drop an 8-5 decision.
Goshen will not have much time to hit the practice courts, as the squad will travel to Indiana Tech Thursday for a 4 p.m. match.
“We want to come away with a win over Indiana Tech in Thursday's match,” King said. “Taylor eked out a 5-4 win over Tech, so it's not going to be easy.”
Singles:
#1 Felipe Bedon (T) def Beakal Girma 6-0, 6-2
#2 Sashi Sabanathan (G) def Jorge Brumicky 6-3, 6-3
#3 Dave Smith (T) def Alex Dominguez 5-0 retired
#4 Joel King (G) def Kyle Brown 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
#5 Bryce Perkins (T) def Sheldon Good 6-1, 6-0
#6 Andrew Miller (T) def Ashe Abebe 6-1, 6-1
Doubles:
#1 Bedon/Reed (T) def Sabanathan/King 8-5
#2 Girma/Dominguez (G) def Miller/Smith 8-6
#3 Brown/Perkins (T) def Good/Abebe 8-3
Exhibition matches:
Hoehner/Rutt (T) def Toews/Kauffman 8-2
Jack Reed (T) def Ben Toews 6-0, 6-1
Brad Hoehner (T) def Jordan Kauffman 6-1, 6-0
Ben Rutt (T) def Bruck Shibru 6-4, 7-6 (4)
|
Sophomore Joel King