Fresh off its 10th ITA Indoor Championship, the No. 6 ranked Emory men's tennis team played its third dual match of the spring on Sunday morning against Piedmont. The Eagles stayed hot, sweeping the Lions, 9-0, to stay undefeated this spring.
The Eagles kicked things off with doubles play, and handedly took down the Lions on all three courts. Freshman Christian Liew and senior Samuel Dean got the Eagles on the board first, winning their match on court three, 8-2. The two rattled off four straight points to start the match before cruising to the finish line.
Seniors Brandon Cohen and Ryan Glanville did the same in their match, winning the opening four points before winning their match by a score of 8-2 in the No. 1 doubles position. Sophomore Dean Kamenev and senior Nolan Shah rounded out the doubles sweep, taking their match on court two by a score of 8-2. Emory entered the singles portion of the day with a strong 3-0 lead.
Liew has experienced an incredibly impressive start to his collegiate career and Sunday was no exception. Playing out of the No. 2 position for the first time, the rookie swiftly swept both sets, 6-0, to secure the Eagles' fourth point of the day. Liew's lone loss in singles play since arriving at Emory came in the ITA Cup in September when he fell to his teammate, Kamenev, in the quarterfinals of the event.
Shortly after Liew's match concluded, sophomore John Lasanajak took home the Eagles' fifth and match-clinching point on court six. Lasanajak won his first set, 6-0, before cruising to winning the second set, 6-1, and securing the win for Emory.
After Emory had already clinched a team win, four more Eagles picked up wins in their singles matches. Sophomore Luca Lipari secured his first singles win of the spring, sweeping the first set 6-0 and winning the second 6-1, earning Emory's sixth point on court five. Freshman Robinson Luo also picked up his first singles win of the spring, winning his match in straight sets, 6-0 and 6-1.
Junior Emilio Van Cotthem also swept his opponent, 6-2 and 6-1. The junior was leading 3-2 in the first set before winning the final three points to come away with a 6-2 decision. Van Cotthem and his opponent were tied up at 1 after the opening two points, but he closed out the match with five straight points to win on court three.
Shah played out of the No. 1 position for the first time this season on Sunday morning. The move into the top position for the Eagles proved to be no problem for the senior, as he won in straight sets, both finishing by a score of 6-2.
At the conclusion of the competition, the Eagles did not drop a single set in any match while having outscored the Lions 24-6 in doubles play and 72-10 in the singles portion of the day. Emory will be back in action on Wednesday, March 13th when they welcome Denison to the Woodruff P.E. Center for a dual match.