JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.— The Carson-Newman women's tennis team fell to Wingate 6-3 Saturday afternoon at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex which snapped the Eagles' three-match winning-streak heading into the contest.
"This was another tough conference loss for the women. In all three of our conference losses, the women have come down to the wire," coach Jean Love said following the match. "Once again, today we had two matches left and if we had won both, we would have won the team match. We have just got to figure out a way to win a few more points at the right time and to believe in ourselves enough to go out there and take the important points."
C-N (7-3, 2-3) picked up two South Atlantic Conference wins during the streak as the Eagles took down Brevard 9-0 (March 15) and Lenoir-Rhyne 8-1 (March 16) but lost its third conference contest of the season to the Bulldogs (9-5, 6-0) on Saturday afternoon.
Wingate, who was ranked 35th in the nation and 6th in the Southeast Region coming into the weekend, was riding on a big conference win of their own heading into play as the Bulldogs took down Tusculum 5-4 Friday afternoon.
Carson-Newman began the day on a high note by winning the first-seeded doubles contest. Patricia Guerreiro (Portugal) combined efforts with Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Germany) to account for the 9-7 win that began the day.
The Eagles would then lose the following two matches in doubles play as Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) and Brooke Sanderson (Evans, Ga.) fell 8-2 at No. 2, and Mallory Jackson (Erwin, Tenn.) and Haleigh Chastain (Knoxville, Tenn.) dropped match No. 3, 8-3.
"Jill and Patricia played an awesome doubles match to get our only team point from doubles," Love said. "We really needed to come through at either No. 2 or 3 doubles, but we didn't."
Carson-Newman would respond to begin singles by winning two of the first three matches.
Following Harris's 2-6, 6-4 and 6-2 three-set loss in the first contest, Guerreiro and Corsato-Owsianka would rally to capture two more team-points for the Eagles.
Guerreiro disposed of Andrea Ternera 6-3, 6-2 in the second match while Corsato-Owsiaka took care of Oroma Womeodu 6-3 in two sets a court over at No. 3.
The win for Guerreiro was the senior's ninth of the season to maintain her undefeated singles record on the season.
"The top part of our singles lineup was solid again today. Patricia at No. 2 singles won in straight sets. After being down 4-1 in the second, she came back and won 5 consecutive games to win the match," Love said. "Jill at No. 3 singles took it to her opponent and won 6-3,6-3. She got out in front at the beginning of each set and never let her opponent back in the match."
Carson-Newman could not keep up the momentum and would drop the final three matches in singles play on the afternoon.
Sanderson fell 6-2, 6-3 against Caroline Holland in the fourth-seeded contest and Gabrielle Wood (Woodstock, Ga.) would come up short at No. 5, losing 6-0, 7-5.
The Eagles would conclude the contest with a 6-1, 6-2 loss in the sixth match from Jackson.
Carson-Newman will hit the courts again on March 23 against North Greenville with another home contest at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
Stay tuned into cneagles.com for updates on Carson-Newman women's tennis.
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