CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Covenant men's tennis dropped their season opener to the Johnson Royals on Saturday, falling 5-2 at the Strang-Voges Tennis Center on the site of The McCallie School in downtown Chattanooga.

Reigning All-CCS players Ben Onufrock and Caleb Domkowski were the main bright spots in the match, as they won their individual singles matches and tandem doubles pairing.

The doubles got started with Onufrock and Domkowski defeating Emmanuel Casco and Igor Parolis of Johnson, 7-5, to put the Scots one match away from earning the doubles point.

Unfortunately, No. 2 doubles tandem Brock Boehling and Graham Hayes were upended by the Royals' Leenart Kleeberg and Gabor Szabo, 5-2, and then No. 3 doubles team Gavin Patton and Cameron Erb fell in a close one, 6-4, to Miguel Sanchez Loo and Levi Lubbers.

In singles play, Onufrock came back from down a set to defeat Kleeberg in a tiebreaker (5-7, 6-4, 10-6) at No. 1 singles, and Domkowski took care of business against Casco at No. 2 singles, winning 6-3, 6-0, to put Covenant up 2-1. 

No. 3 and No. 4 singles required tiebreakers to decide a winner as well, but they both went Johnson's way, as Hayes lost to Loo (6-2, 2-6, 10-2) and Boehling fell to Benjamin Berrios (6-4, 5-7, 10-5), as the Royals retook the match lead.

With two singles spots remaining to decide the match, Patton could not overcome Parolis, falling 6-3, 7-5, and Jacob Eldridge came up short against Szabo, 6-4, 6-2.

UP NEXT

The Scots hit the road to play a challenging Sewanee team on Saturday at 10 a.m. and then East Texas Baptist that afternoon at 1 p.m.. Both matches will be hosted at Sewanee.

CONNECT WITH THE SCOTS

Be sure to follow the Scots all season long on athletics.covenant.edu and on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for up-to-date scores, news and other information.