JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.— The Carson-Newman women's tennis team continues to surge as the Eagles pitched a shutout Saturday afternoon while sweeping Southern Wesleyan 9-0 at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex for their third win of the season.
C-N (3-1) wasted little time when the match began and took all three doubles contests from the Warriors (2-5) to begin the afternoon.
First-team representatives Patricia Guerreiro (Portugal) and Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) took care of business in a hurry by taking down the duo of Aimee Dorley and Chyna Jones 7-2 to win in at No. 1 doubles.
Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Germany) and Brooke Sanderson (Evans, Ga.) followed up with an 8-1 win in the second-seeded contest while the freshman tandem from Georgia, Hannah Ayers (Woodstock, Ga.) and Gabrielle Wood (Woodstock, Ga.) posted an 8-4 win of their own at No. 3.
"Doubles wins up and down the lineup came very quickly with everyone playing great today," assistant coach Austin Mackay said following the win. "Hannah [Ayers] and Gabby [Gabrielle Wood] have meshed really well since Sydney Ledington (Corbin, Ky.) has been injured and unable to play."
Carson-Newman's good play continued into the singles matchups as the Eagles completed the sweep by taking every match in the singles competition.
"Continuing with the trend, singles always seemed to be in our control with our girls looking to win every match," Mackay added.
For the first time this season, Ayers competed at No. 1 for the Eagles and won her first career collegiate singles match in three sets 6-2, 3-6 and 17-15.
"Ali Harris had an amazing battle on court one, winning eventually in a 17-15 super tiebreaker," Mackay said. "It was an incredible mental and physical effort. Awesome performance by the freshman."
Guerreiro then followed with a two-set victory of 6-0, 6-1 before giving way to Corsato-Owsianka's 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 3. Sanderson then came in the fourth spot with a 9-7 victory in one set.
Saturday's wins for seniors Guerreior and Sanderson was their fourth of the season. Aside from Ayers performance on Saturday, the duo are the only Eagles to remain undefeated in singles play on the season.
Wood then proceeded with an 8-1 win in the fifth-seeded contest.
Because of injury, Southern Wesleyan was forced to shuffle around its lineup Saturday afternoon, and as a result, Haleigh Chastain was awarded a team point for her victory via forfeit in the sixth and final singles match of the day.
The last time an Eagle club swept their opponent to a 9-0 tune was in last season's finale against Tennessee Wesleyan. Carson-Newman also swept Virginia-Wise 9-0 to begin the 2015 campaign.
The Eagles will look to make it three wins in a row as the weekend's trek continues Sunday afternoon at Converse beginning at 1:30 p.m.
A full recap following Sunday's action can be found on cneagles.com at the conclusion of the match.
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