Carson-Newman looks to regain winning ways Wednesday
Carson-Newman women’s tennis (6-3, 2-1 SAC) will stay within the Volunteer State in hopes of returning to winning ways Wednesday.
HARROGATE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman women's tennis (6-3, 2-1 SAC) will stay within the Volunteer State in hopes of returning to winning ways Wednesday. The Eagles take the short trip to Harrogate for a matchup with the Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial (3-5, 2-3 SAC).
Last week saw Carson-Newman suffer its first SAC loss of 2021 at the hands of the Anderson (S.C.) Trojans on Tuesday. The gates to the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex were opened as the Eagles and Trojans squared off, with Anderson controlling the match and securing a 5-2 victory in the end. Senior Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) continued her winning ways from number three singles as she moved to 8-1 on the year in the position. Meanwhile, junior and preseason All-SAC selection Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) has picked up her pace and seems to be finding the right ways to win. After Tuesday's match and with her victory, Resende is now 25-7 as an Eagle when playing the number one singles match.
The Eagles now sit at 2-1 in South Atlantic Conference play, which matches the best conference start since 2018-19 when C-N were victors over Lincoln Memorial and Newberry but fell to Queens.
Saturday was the second time this season where Carson-Newman saw matches against a Division I opponent, this time in the Belmont Bruins. After making the trip to Nashville, the Eagles started off with Resende and senior Abby Reis (Des Moines, IA) winning their match at number one singles. However, no other Eagles doubles pair saw a win, which gave Belmont the first point of the match. In singles, only Resende claimed victory as she stays at 25-7 due to the nature of Saturday's match being an exhibition. The same result is said for Price as she lost her match on Saturday but did not see a blemish to her 8-1 singles record in 2021.
"It may have said exhibition on the schedule, but our players treat every match the same," head coach Jim Frederick said. "Losing like we did to Anderson was not ideal but it helps our boys to get better and know what to improve upon as we continue SAC play."
When action begins on Wednesday, it marks the first time the two East Tennessee programs have tussled since March of 2020. This was one of the last matches both programs completed prior to the season being cut short by COVID. LMU were the 4-3 victors in 2020, building their series lead to 7-4.
The last time the Eagles were victorious was in March 2019 as they took home a 4-3 victory from the Railsplitters. This was also the first time C-N (1-4 in Harrogate) had left the Indoor Tennis Facility with the team win in five attempts. C-N will hope and pray to Saint Patrick for a repeat of 2019 come Wednesday.
Lincoln Memorial is 3-5 in 2021, coming off a 7-0 sweep of Mars Hill on March 12. LMU has only won one other SAC match this year, defeating Limestone 5-2 on March 2 in Gaffney, S.C.
Opening serve from the Indoor Tennis Facility is set for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday against the Railsplitters. Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman women's tennis at cneagles.com and on social media.
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