NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Yellowjacket men's tennis team closed out the fall portion of its 2023-24 schedule Sunday, heading on the road for a date with Carleton College.
 
Sunday marked the first-ever meeting between the two schools, and Carleton now has the 1-0 edge all-time after defeating the Yellowjackets 6-3 at the Pat Lamb Tennis Courts.
 
The Yellowjackets (1-1, 0-0 UMAC) got off to a strong start Sunday, holding a 2-1 lead when doubles play concluded.
 
Carleton opened the scoring Sunday, getting a win at No. 2 doubles. Yuv Kataria and Baiyun Jing defeated Davide Pelletti (Prado, Brazil) and Lucca Paladini (Blumenu, Brazil/Colegio Saber) 8-4.
 
The Yellowjackets drew even when Jacob Zacharias (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) Sharan Kanugovi (Bangalore, Karnataka/New Baldwin International School) defeated Aniketh Vipparla and Jerome Yang 8-4. The 'Jackets went in front 2-1 when Igor Guetten Chaves (Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil/Colégio Adventista) and Ren Kurachi (Yokohama, Japan/Yokosuka Gakuin), who claimed the doubles consolation championship at last week's ITA Midwest Regional, defeated Jack Rivkin and Cooper Kline 8-5 at No. 1 doubles.
 
From there Carleton took over, rolling through singles play.
 
Carleton tied it with a win at No. 6 singles, then took the lead with a win at No. 4 singles. The Yellowjackets tied the match at 3-3 when Kanugovi defeated Rivkin at No. 5 singles 6-1, 6-2. Carleton then closed the day out with wins at No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1 singles.
 
All singles matches were settled in straight sets.
 
The Yellowjackets are now off until Friday, Jan. 26 when they take on Carroll University in New Berlin, Wis. The time of the first serve is still to be determined.