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Monday, 30 January 2012 22:48 |
 Sophomore Sebastian King competes during ASU’s come-from-behind 4-3 victory. King defeated Asheville’s Thomas Rees in three sets.
Trailing 3-1 to Asheville Sunday, men’s tennis head coach Bob Lake couldn’t have been more confident in his Mountaineers.
“We’re going to win and you can quote me on that,” Coach Lake said, just minutes after Appalachian lost in the No. 1 match between senior Alex Markov and Asheville’s Adrien Langeard.
The loss put ASU on the brink of losing the match. But senior Steve Karendal started the rally in the No. 5 match, besting Asheville’s Ryan Matthews without dropping a single game.
Then sophomores Sebastian King and Matt Saltsgaver both grinded out three-set wins to give the Mountaineers a stunning come-from-behind win.
“We played a few bad games in doubles and some of those mistakes crept into our singles play,” Coach Lake said. “Asheville’s top three are tough, and Phil [Kloc] did a great job keeping us alive. Our bottom three guys showed just how strong our entire lineup is.”
The lone win, prior to the three-match run by ASU, was by senior Philip Kloc, who won in two sets, redeeming his disappointing doubles loss with teammate Alain Humblet.
“I started off a little nervous,” Kloc said. “We had a pretty big crowd, but I got into a rhythm. I gave up some stupid points, but overall I played pretty well.”
Though the Mountaineers pulled out a hard-fought victory, the doubles team comprised of Humblet and Kloc has gotten off to a rough start this season. Humblet believes the duo will pull together against next week’s match.
Humblet lost his singles match to a red-hot Jonas Brobeck 6-4, 6-3.
“We need to get a few wins under our belt,” Humblet said. “Teams like this we shouldn’t lose to. The rest of the season we shouldn’t lose, though.”
Appalachian will have time to work out the kinks and build on its win after a week off. ASU will host East Carolina Feb. 18.
Story: JAKE AMBERG, Sports Editor
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