ANDERSON, S.C.—The Carson-Newman women's tennis team picked up its third South Atlantic Conference victory of the season and its second win in a row Friday afternoon by taking down Anderson 5-4 Friday afternoon.
The Eagles (9-3, 3-3) lost their previous conference match against Wingate 6-3 on March 19, but the one-point defeat over the Trojans (10-7, 5-3) brings C-N back to an even slate in conference play.
Anderson jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the conclusion of doubles play as Carson-Newman suffered a combined 13-point loss between the Eagles' No. 1 and 3 pairings.
The combination of Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) and Brooke Sanderson (Evans, Ga.) were the only C-N duo to pick up a doubles win as the pairing took down Alexandria Ebner and Jennifer Holcombe 8-5 in the second-seeded contest.
Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Germany) and Patricia Guerreiro (Portugal) were set down 8-1 at No. 1 and Gabrielle Wood (Woodstock, Ga.) and Mallory Jackson (Erwin, Tenn.) lost 8-2 in the third round of doubles play.
The Eagles headed into singles play with some ground to make up.
In the first singles match, Harris won by default over Ivey Welborn while Guerreiro was forced to retire due to injury a court over at No. 2.
The score remained 3-2 in favor of Anderson with four matches remaining in the contest.
Corsato-Owsianka would then pick up the 6-1, 6-3 win in the third-seeded contest. Sanderson would then come up short against Ebner 6-4, 7-6 in two sets at No. 4.
Carson-Newman would then rally and win the final two matches of the day to result in the 5-4 team victory.
Wood notched a 6-3, 6-0 win in the fifth-seeded contest and Jackson picked up the win at No. 6 in three sets, 4-6, 6-4 and 6-4.
"Today was a big win for us. In our three conference losses, we have been close," coach Jean Love said. "Today we finally won a close match. We started slow in doubles and only got one point from our No. 2 team. We came back to win four singles matches with Mallory clinching the decisive point in a three-setter."
The Eagles will be at it again on March 29 against Catawba at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex beginning at 2:00 p.m.
For complete coverage of Carson-Newman tennis, log onto cneagles.com.
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