ORLANDO, Fla. -- A few hours after making a statement with a hard-fought 6-3 win over No. 16-ranked Wesleyan University, the Kenyon College men's tennis team kept rolling with a 6-3 win over Millsaps College to go 2-0 on the day. The Owls hold a 5-7 dual record on the season after the two wins, while Millsaps fell to 2-4.
The teams played a few closely contested matches throughout the dual, but Kenyon claimed wins at the top of the lineup to clinch the victory. The Owls rolled out most of their top doubles duos, and the No. 1 pairing of Luis Andres Platas and Eric Zhang won 8-3. Thomas Kallarakal and Eliezer Gonzalez fell 8-6 in the No. 2 spot, but Christophe Leblanc and Rakkan Audeh earned a competitive 8-7 (7-5) decision in the No. 3 match for their second win in as many doubles outings this season.
Audeh, who has posted the team's best singles record while holding down the bottom of the lineup, earned a straight-set sweep in his first outing at No. 1. The sophomore cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win, improving to 12-3 in singles with his eighth straight victory.
In the No. 2 spot, Gonzalez pushed through a challenging first set, winning 7-6 after a 7-3 margin in the tiebreaker, before clinching the match with a 6-0 win in set two. Jacob Smith was locked in at No. 3 in one of the two singles matches that went three sets, and the senior prevailed in a comeback win. Smith fell 6-1 in the first set before flipping the script with a 6-3, 10-7 finish.
The Owls conceded two points in the Nos. 4 and 5 singles matches after the Majors earned a back-and-forth three-set victory of their own in the fourth spot. Leblanc fell 6-4, 1-6, 13-11 at No. 4, while Subhan Bin Salik fell 6-2, 6-4 at No. 5.
A win in the No. 6 bout rounded out the 6-3 Kenyon victory. Harshal Rukhaiyar earned his first singles win of the season with a dominant 6-0, 6-2 decision.
Kenyon has one more dual on deck before their time at the USTA National Campus comes to a close. The Owls are set to take on the No. 2-ranked Washington University in St. Louis (8-2) in just a few hours at 11 a.m. for their final game in Orlando, Florida.
