NEED TO KNOW:
Score: Covenant 5, Piedmont 1
Records: Covenant, 13-11; Piedmont, 19-7
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Piedmont men's tennis was unable to overcome a slow start in a 5-1 CCS Tournament Final loss to Covenant on Saturday afternoon in Chattanooga.
The Scots blitzed the Lions from the start, taking all three doubles lines before winning a pair of matches in straight sets to clinch the title.
Covenant rolled to an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles as the duo of Ben Onufrock and Austin Dreslinski put away the first point of the match.
Then, the Scots were able to flip the match at No. 3 after falling down a break early as Gill Dunn and Caleb Domkowski won 8-5.
Finally, in a crucial match at No. 2, the Scots were able to prevail 8-7 (7) in a lengthy tiebreaker to complete the doubles sweep and put the Lions in a deep hole heading to singles.
Singles action saw Domkowski pick up a win over Piedmont's
Mark Backeberg 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3. However, Piedmont fought back, as
Rohan Kavali put the first point of the match on the board for the Lions, winning 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5.
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Then, just after
Mike Porcelli fought hard to win a first set tiebreaker 7-6 (6), the Scots put the match away with a 6-2, 6-2 win from Onufrock at No. 1.
This marks the second consecutive year in which the Lions have fallen to the Scots in the CCS Tournament Final.
Piedmont delivered a program record 19 wins in the 2024 season and picked up the program's first CCS Regular Season Championship.
TURNING POINT:
- The Scots were able to win a breaker at No. 2 doubles to go up 3-0 heading into singles.
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES:
- Kavali and Porcelli were named to the CCS All-Tournament Team.
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