Eagles seeking first SAC win in trek to #23 Anderson

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Following a tough loss at the hands of Coker on Sunday afternoon, Carson-Newman looks to bounce back with a road trip to Anderson S.C. to face the No. 23 Trojans at the AU Tennis Complex on Tuesday.

The Eagles (2-9, 0-5 SAC) head into the match on a five-match losing streak, their longest winless streak since closing out the 2016 season with five consecutive losses. They are tied with Catawba for the longest losing streak in the conference. Both teams along with Mars Hill currently sit at the bottom of the SAC standings, all three still searching for a conference victory.

C-N held a 2-1 lead through doubles play before Coker came battling back in singles play, causing both teams to flip-flop the lead on several occasions. The day came down to a meeting between Taylor Barie (Woodstock, Ga.) and Henrick Hellbe at the No. 4 spot. They each split the first and second sets, leading to a third-set tiebreaker for all the marbles. The final set fell in favor of Hellbe, pushing the Cobras to a 5-4 win.

After Sunday, Kevin Mendes (Chattanooga, Tenn.) is the lone Eagle to have a multi-match singles winning streak at two-straight victories. Marc Bantel (Germany) erased a four-match losing streak on Saturday with a three-set tiebreaker victory.

The opposite of Carson-Newman, Anderson (10-4, 4-1 SAC) enters Tuesday with five straight victories to its name, the longest current winning streak in the conference. Their previous two matches have been 9-0 sweeps of Erskine and, most recently, Mars Hill.

Anderson sits at second in the South Atlantic Conference Standings, right behind Wingate.

The Trojans were projected to finish at fifth in the League's preseason coaches' poll after a 2016-17 campaign that saw them finish 18-6 overall, 7-4 in conference action. They made it to the SAC Tournament but were eliminated by Newberry in the opening round.

Sophomore Ignacio Bidegian was the only member of tenth-yeah head coach Joey Eskridge's squad to be tabbed a preseason All-Conference member as he landed on the First Team Singles list.

Since 2011, the Eagles have yet to see a win against the Trojans in seven meetings.

The last time the two teams met was on February 27 of last season when Anderson left Mossy Creek with a 6-3 win in C-N's conference opener for the season. The Eagles won two of the three doubles matches before only being able to muster one more in singles play.

First serve between the No. 23 Trojans and Eagles is set for 1:30 p.m. at the AU Tennis Complex.