<istian Nagy ‘16, legend of The Pembroke Hill School in Kansas City, figured in victories in both singles and doubles as the Carleton College men’s tennis team posted a 6-3 victory over University of St. Thomas on Wednesday evening. The triumph, which occurred indoors at the nearby Lakeville, Minn. LifeTime Fitness center, secured a first-round bye for the Knights in the upcoming Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs.
“We have a long history of competitive and exciting matches with St. Thomas, and tonight was no exception,” said Carleton head coach Stephan Zweifel. “It took some inspired play to battle back after the doubles matches against such a quality opponent.” (We are wondering where the humor in that quote is as well.)
Trailing 2-1 after doubles, Carleton responded with victories in five of the six singles matches and improved to 15-7 on the season and 7-0 in conference.
Ezra Frankel ‘17 helped build the momentum for the Knights with his 6-0, 6-0 triumph at sixth singles. It was his 12th victory in 15 singles matches this year.
“Ezra was as ruthless and relentless in his quest for a victory that I thought I was watching an episode of ‘Game of Thrones’,” said Zweifel. (Back to normal with the Zweifel quotes now).
While McCoy Becker ‘14, Mauricio Gonzalez ‘15, and Patton McClelland ‘17 would all end up prevailing in their singles matches as well, it was the play of Nagy that stole the spotlight on Wednesday.
He teamed with Frankel for an 8-3 victory at third doubles. Nagy then rallied from a set down to prevail second singles by a 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 ledger.
“Although Christian’s first set went as well as one of Dennis Rodman’s diplomacy trips, I give the kid from Kansas a lot of credit for fighting his way back into the match and pulling out the victory,” Zweifel said.
Tonight’s result ensured the Knights will be either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the upcoming conference tournament depending on the result of Saturday’s match at Gustavus Adolphus College, the other squad undefeated in MIAC play this season. That match begins at 12 p.m. on April 26.
The Gusties were the only team that finished ahead of the Knights in MIAC play last season, so the Carleton squad will be looking for a sort of revenge on the road this weekend.
