Fort Wayne, IN — It was another tough outing for the Goshen College men’s tennis team on Thursday against Indiana Tech, as the Leafs fell to the host Warriors by an 8-1 score.
After being swept in doubles play for the first time in the young season, Goshen (0-2, 0-1) could only muster one win in singles competition, that coming from the least-likely scenarios: After moving up from his usual number two singles slot to the top position, freshman Sashi Sabanathan gave the Leafs their lone point in a 6-0, 6-2 win over Indiana Tech’s Jose Villaviscencio.
“Tech has a strong and much improved tennis team, and we had our hands full throughout the match,” said Stan King, Goshen head coach. “We played some exciting tennis, however, at number one and two singles. Sashi Sabanathan, who moved up to number one for this match because (senior) Beakal Girma was unavailable for play, and Tech’s Jose Villavisceno put on a superb display of tennis, with some near unbelievable rallies. In the end, Sabantahan’s patience and crafty play with placement and changes in spin and pace were too much for Villavisceno to overcome.”
Freshman Alex Dominguez provided Goshen with the only other match to go three sets, eventually falling to Indiana Tech’s Paulo Mattos by a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 score. It was Dominguez’s first full, collegiate singles match, as he was forced to retire in Tuesday’s singles play against Taylor University due to what King cited as heat exhaustion (click here for related article).
“It was good to see Alex Dominguez physically able to play hard through his three-set, number two singles match,” King said. “He played with power and confidence and showed himself to be the capable player he is in his hard fought loss to Tech’s Mattos.”
After being swept in the lower four slots in singles play — and falling in all three doubles matches by a top score of 8-4 — Goshen’s only other bright spot came in exhibition play, where freshman Jordan Kauffman took a 6-1, 6-2 win over Tech’s Bryan Sexton.
“Though there were some bright spots to our play today, we had a lot of inconsistency and were often caught flat-footed, showing less aggressive play than I would like to see,” King said. “We’ll need to pick up our play in the lower parts of the lineup if the team is going to compete at the level I believe it is capable.”
Goshen will return to the courts on Saturday afternoon, when the squad will host a three-team Goshen College Invitational. Match time is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
Singles:
#1 Sashi Sabanathan (G) def Jose Villavisencio 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
#2 Paulo Mattos (T) def Alex Dominguez 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
#3 Daniel Yamamoto (T) def Joel King 6-1, 6-1
#4 Brandon Barger (T) def Ashe Abebe 6-1, 6-2
#5 Chris Cash (T) def Sheldon Good 6-2, 6-1
#6 Mark Freiherr (T) def Chanuk Algama 6-4, 6-1
Doubles:
#1 Villavisencio/Mattos (T) def Sabanathan/King 8-3
#2 Yamamoto/Barger (T) def Dominguez/Algama 8-3
#3 Cash/Freiherr (T) def Good/Abebe 8-4
Exhibition matches:
Rayner/Evans (T) def Toews/Kauffman 8-6
Sean Evans (T) def Ben Toews 6-0, 6-0
Jordan Kauffman (G) def Bryan Sexton 6-1, 6-2
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  Freshman Sashi Sabanathan
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