MOUNT OLIVE (March 20) – The University of Mount Olive men's tennis team suffered a 7-0 loss against No. 20 ranked Catawba on Thursday afternoon at the John Neal Walker Tennis Center.
With the loss, the Trojans dropped their overall record to 4-7 and will play another non-conference match next week when they travel to face Virginia State in a regional matchup. Meanwhile, Catawba improves to 8-2 overall and collects their first win over the Trojans in program history.
The Catawba Indians claimed the doubles point after winning two of three matches to begin the contest on Thursday. In the first position, the juniors
Niklas Gruenefeldt and
Bram Poel had to stop their doubles ahead 5-3 to Luca Bergonzi and Agustin Mastri due to the doubles point being clinched. The freshmen
Luke Oosthuizen and
Joao Matias Sonaglia competed in second singles and suffered a 6-3 loss to Thomas Kostka and Alessandro Valletta. In the third slot, sophomore
Hampus Hagglund and freshman
Viggo Lindstrup lost by a 6-2 decision against Mateo Berne and Sebastian Zabala.
Catawba secured the match victory by capturing victories in all six singles matches, including four in straight sets. Sophomore
Kristoffer Dalbak was dealt a 1-6, 6-7 (4-7) loss to Mastri in the first singles before Poel fell by a close 1-6, 6-1, 6-7 (5-7) margin to Kostka playing the longest singles match in the second position. Hagglund played in the third slot and suffered a 2-6, 2-6 loss to No. 45 nationally-ranked Berne while freshman
Hiroma Nishikata was defeated in another three-set match 6-4, 3-6, 3-6 in the fourth singles. Oosthuizen played in the fifth slot and fell by a 3-6, 2-6 final score to Valletta before Lindstrup suffered a 1-6, 1-6 loss to Ryosuke Inagawa.
Mount Olive returns to the court on Tuesday, March 25, when they travel to face Virginia State in Petersburg, Virginia, at 2 p.m.
