On April 15 and 16, the No. 3-ranked NCAA Division III Emory men's tennis team defeated the No. 19 Sewanee: The University of the South (Tenn.) Tigers 7-2 and Washington and Lee University 8-1 to earn their ninth and 10th consecutive team victories, pushing their season record to 14-2.
In doubles, the top team of seniors Jonathan Jemison and Adrien Bouchet improved their season record to 20-4 after narrowly upending the Tigers' first doubles team of Aubrey Davis and Jordan Brewer, 8-6. In third doubles, freshman Antonio Mora and sophomore Alec Rabinowitz also defeated their opponents, Ryan Wax and Brandon Kali, 8-2. This gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead heading into the singles portion of the match.
In singles, the Eagles dominated by winning five of six matches. Bouchet played against the Tigers No. 1 Andres Carro and triumphed with a 6-3, 6-3 win to boost his season record to 16-3. Mora followed Bouchet’s victory with a win of his own in second singles over Jack Gray, 6-1, 6-3, for his 16th victory in 19 matches this season. In third singles, freshman Andrew Esses earned a 7-5, 6-1 verdict against Brewer. The Eagles also earned victories at the fifth and sixth singles spots to cap off a successful day.
In Emory’s final regular-season home match on April 16, the Eagles cruised past Washington and Lee University (Va.) by a score of 8-1 to improve their collective team record to 14-2. In doubles, the Eagles won 2-1 and they swept the singles section of their matchup. All four seniors, Jemison, James Spaulding, Bouchet and George Congdon, won their last regular season singles matches handedly, while Mora and Esses also contributed to the team win with victories of their own.
After their match against Washington and Lee, Esses said the team is looking forward to postseason play.
“We’ve put in a lot of work recently and have momentum going into our conference championship next week, and I feel like the coaching staff has done a great job preparing us physically and mentally,” Esses said. “We are ready to go after a national championship.”
The Eagles return to action for the quarterfinal round of the University Athletic Association Championships in Orlando, Fla. on Friday, April 26.
