Eagles face a bevy of competition entering weekend's play
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—After a rain-soaked playing surface forced action to be postponed between Carson-Newman and arch-rival Tusculum on Tuesday, the Eagles will try it again this weekend with a pair of home nonconference match ups between the University of the Cumberlands and Southern Wesleyan on Friday and Saturday, as well as an away contest at Converse on Sunday afternoon.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—After a rain-soaked playing surface forced action to be postponed between Carson-Newman and arch-rival Tusculum on Tuesday, the Eagles will try it again this weekend with a pair of home nonconference match ups between the University of the Cumberlands and Southern Wesleyan on Friday and Saturday, as well as an away contest at Converse on Sunday afternoon.
"What we are looking at right now is to utilize these nonconference matches," coach Jean Love said. "First of all, we need to utilize it for the experience because we have a few young folks that need to grow up. We also need to just work on the little things we need to do to in order to be successful."
Cumberlands (0-3) will be coming to town Friday at 2 p.m. to take on Carson-Newman (1-1) with hopes of gaining its first victory of the season. After concluding the 2015 season with a 7-11 overall record, the Patriots will feature second-team All-American, and the sixth-ranked player from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association a season ago, Isabella Dale, back for her junior campaign.
The team from the Mid-South Conference in the NAIA division of play are seeking to just get on the court as their past four matches have been postponed due to inclement weather. Cumberlands fields four freshmen, two sophomores, one junior and three seniors on the roster this season, and are ran by 27th-year head coach Chin Tan.
Saturday's contest will be against the Warriors (2-4) from the Conference Carolinas and will begin play 1 p.m. Southern Wesleyan is competing in the conference for the second-straight season prior to joining the league at the beginning of the 2014 academic year from NAIA play. The school is also a part of the National Christian College Association (NCCA) and competes in the South Region.
Coached by Darrell Jernigan, the Warriors showcase four freshmen, three juniors and one senior on the roster that started the 2016 season with four-straight losses. Since then, Southern Wesleyan has rebounded by winning two-straight over Benedict (5-4) and King (9-0).
Sunday's matinee contest between C-N and Converse (3-2) will be held in Spartanburg, S.C. as the Eagles will look to cap off their third match in three days beginning at 1:30 p.m. The Valkyries play in the Conference Carolinas as well and are winners of three-straight matches.
Converse sports a balanced roster for the 2016 season with four under and upperclassmen and are already halfway to matching their win total of six from a year ago. The Valkyries are coached by Katie Mancebo.
"It's tough to play back-to-back days, but it's also early in the season and I won't be playing the same people all weekend. A lot of different players will be getting looks over the next few days," Love said. "It will really help us out down the road because when we get into the heart of our conference schedule, there will often be back-to-back days."
Carson-Newman, on the other hand, began the season in impressive fashion with an 8-1 victory over Tennessee Wesleyan (2/18) before dropping its second contest, and South Atlantic Conference lid-lifter, 6-3 at Newberry (2/21).
In the Eagles' first two matches of the season, senior Patricia Guerreiro (Portugal) led the way for C-N with a 3-1 overall record with two singles victories.
"I can't say enough about Patricia and her growth and maturation over the years. She was hampered a bit as a freshman having missed some time with a shoulder injury, but has really developed into a good player," Love said. "If there is ever a player that you can never count out, it's Patricia. She will battle to the very end.
"It's a lot of competition this weekend, but it's a great chance for us to get in some work against teams from outside of our conference. We are really looking forward to it."
A full recap regarding all of the weekend's action against the Patriots and Warriors can be found on cneagles.com following each day's competition.
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