SEWANEE, Tennessee -- The Kenyon College men's tennis team took on its second straight top-10 opponent on Saturday, and the No. 20-ranked Owls could not outduel the No. 10-ranked Emory Eagles in a 7-2 decision.
Emory took an early edge by sweeping the three doubles matches, but all three Owls duos put up significant resistance. At No. 1 doubles, Luis Andres Platas and Eric Zhang found themselves on the wrong side of an 8-6 final, while Paulo Pocasangre Kreling and Eliezer Gonzalez, a pair of first-years, fell 8-4 in the No. 2 spot. The No. 3 doubles match needed to be decided in a tiebreaker, but Kenyon's Evan Dean and Thomas Kallarakal dropped the tightly-contested match 8-7 after falling 7-5 in the tiebreak.
The Owls bounced back with a pair of victories in singles competition, but the Eagles clinched the dual with wins in the top four bouts. Andrew Esses upended Andres Platas 6-2, 6-4 in the No. 1 spot, while Nolan Shah edged out Rishil Kondapaneni 7-5, 6-3 at No. 2.
The No. 3 match needed a tiebreak in the second set, but Kallarakal fell 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) to Dean Kamenev. Emory completed the straight-set trend at No. 4 when Charlie James handed Zhang a 6-3, 6-3 defeat.
Pocasangre Kreling pulled out a gutsy win in the No. 5 match. After falling 6-4 in set one, the first-year flipped the script with a 6-4 win in set two before claiming a 10-6 tiebreaking victory in set three. Rakkan Audeh had an easier time in his No. 6 singles match, cruising to a 6-1, 6-3 final to close the dual.
Kenyon will remain in Sewanee to take on No. 33-ranked Sewanee University (0-1) at 11 a.m. local time (noon EST) on Sunday, Feb. 19. The Tigers, hosts of the three-day Tiger Den Invitational, are coming off a 7-2 loss to Emory on Friday in their season-opener.
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