Tennis Splits Match with Mars Hill

SALISBURY, NC -- The Catawba men squeezed by the Lions of Mars Hill 5-4 as the women fell 6-3 to the Lady Lions Thursday afternoon at the Johnson Tennis Center. The men improve to 7-4 overall and 1-2 in the South Atlantic Conference while the women drop to 5-6 and 0-3.

The men started strong by sweeping the doubles action as #1 Thomas Mitchell (Nanaimo, BC, CANADA/Pendleton School) and Pierce Hoover (Durham, NC/N. Durham HS) won 8-4, #2 Alex MacDonald (Lowen Hutt, NEW ZEALAND/Hutt International HS) and Matthew Nicholson (Chawara, ZIMBABWE/Lomabundi HS) claimed a 8-5 victory and #3 Corey Eldridge (Sewell,NJ/Washington Township HS) and Uri Yarkoni (Kelowna,BC,CANADA/Okanagan HS) won 8-2.

Hoover (6-2, 6-1) at #4 and Nicholson (6-4, 6-3) at #5 were the only singles winners for the Indians.

Candace Hall (Denver, NC/E. Lincoln HS) picked up the only earned win for the women at #5 singles with an easy 6-0, 6-2 defeat of Mars Hill’s Jordan Dockery. Hannah Kovach (Salisbury, NC/E. Rowan HS) at #6 singles along with the #3 doubles team of Hall and Olivia Myers (Lexington, NC/W. Davidson HS) won by default.

Catawba next travels to compete in a tournament Mar. 4-7 at Hilton Head, SC.

Singles
1. Lucas Simm (MHCM) def. Alex Macdonald (CATAWBA) 6-4, 6-0
2. Enrico Patriarca (MHCM) def. Thomas Mitchell (CATAWBA) 6-3, 6-0
3. Euquerio Guerrero (MHCM) def. Jess Goodall (CATAWBA) 6-0, 6-3
4. Pierce Hoover (CATAWBA) def. Guilherme Lima (MHCM) 6-2, 6-1
5. Matthew Nicholson (CATAWBA) def. Zach High (MHCM) 6-4, 6-3
6. Michael Melvill (MHCM) def. Uri Yarkoni (CATAWBA) 2-6, 6-2, 11-9

Doubles
1. Thomas Mitchell/Pierce Hoover (CATAWBA) def. Lucas Simm/Euquerio Guerrero (MHCM) 8-4
2. Alex Macdonald/Matthew Nicholson (CATAWBA) def. Enrico Patriarca/Guilherme Lima (MHCM) 8-5
3. Corey Eldridge/Uri Yarkoni (CATAWBA) def. Michael Melvill/Zach High (MHCM) 8-2