'Big Three' lead way for Eagles in dominating win over Crusaders

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—The Carson-Newman women's tennis team tallied another win to its column Wednesday afternoon by taking down out-of-conference foe North Greenville 8-1 at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.

The afternoon started with a clean sweep in doubles play, as the Crusaders (3-6) were only able to put together nine total points amongst the three pairings.

Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Germany) and Patricia Guerreiro (Portugal) kicked things off for the Eagles (8-3) as the team's No. 1 pairing and took down their counterparts 8-2 for the opening-win.

Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) and Brooke Sanderson (Evans, Ga.) quickly followed a court over, collecting the 8-2 in the second-seeded contest, and Gabrille Wood (Woodstock, Ga.) and Mallory Jackson (Erwin, Tenn.) rounded out the first round of play with an 8-5 win at No. 3.

"Women's doubles were huge today and our combinations seem to be coming together," coach Jean Love said following the win. " We just played smart and assertive doubles by controlling the middle of the court.  Jill and Patricia at No. 1 doubles got started by winning 8-2.  Then Ali and Brooke in the second match came through with an 8-2 win.  While Gabrielle and Mallory got off to a slow start, they picked up the pace for an 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles."

Carson-Newman would continue the good play into the singles matches, as North Greenville's only team-point on the day came all the way in the fifth contest where Wood came up short in two sets, 7-6, 6-4.

Harris began the round with 6-1, 6-0 dominating defeat of Camille Duhan at No. 1. Guerreiro continued the horrid pace by blanking her opponent 6-0 in two sets in the second-seeded contest and Corsato-Owsianka kept pace with the 6-1, 6-2 win in the third round of action.

Sanderson beat Kylie Sandusky 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4 and Jackson capped off the day for C-N with a 6-2 two-set victory in the sixth and final contest of the day.

"The 'Big Three' as I guess I will call them got us off to a great start in singles and also clinched the team match win for us," Love said.  "Ali at No. 1, Patricia at No. 2 and Jill at No. 3 were all singles winners in relatively easy straight-set matches.  Other singles winners today were Brooke in the fourth match and Mallory at No. 6.  Our only loss in singles came at No. 5 singles."

Carson-Newman will resume South Atlantic Conference play Friday when the eagles travel to Anderson for a 1:00 p.m. serve time.

A full recap following the contest between the eagles and the Trojans can be found at cneagles.com at the conclusion of the contest.

-CN-