JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—Currently on the outside looking in with South Atlantic Conference tournament hopes, the Carson-Newman women's tennis team has a good opportunity to climb up the ladder with three conference tilts on the week beginning with a home match up against Catawba on Tuesday at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
"The women are coming off an exciting win over Anderson in the last conference outing," coach Jean Love said. "I am very interested to see if we can carry that good feeling and confidence into the matches this week."
The Eagles (9-3, 3-3) sit seventh in the SAC standings as of Monday, March 28. With the top-six teams advancing to the SAC tournament upon season's end, C-N has a good chance of positioning themselves into the top-half of the league if the Eagles were to take advantage of the three-match conference play on the week.
Catawba (11-8, 2-5) will kick things off for the Eagles at home on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. Sweeping Brevard 9-0 in their last outing on March 22, the Indians will be coming to Mossy Creek to make up the rain-cancelled tilt that was originally slated for March 3.
Coming into the contest sitting ninth in the league standings, Catawba welcomes back a heap of returners to the squad this season that features three seniors and two juniors to go along with four true freshman.
The Eagles will then hit the road to Lincoln Memorial (11-4, 6-3) on Thursday for a 1:30 p.m. match against the Railsplitters. LMU lost its last outing of the season against Queens on February, 29, 1-8, but have since won seven in-a-row.
The good play of late has positioned the Railsplitters to fourth in the conference standings the squad fields a fairly balanced lineup coached by Benny Collins. Three upperclassmen lead three incoming freshman on the year that has already accounted for roughly a third of the team-points on the season.
The three-match conference week continues to Mars Hill (4-10, 2-7) on Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. start time against the Lions. Coached by John Hunter, Mars Hill sits 10th in the league standings after losing its last outing to date against Queens, 9-0, on March 26.
The Eagles have been paced by Patricia Guerreiro (Portugal) and Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Germany) in the second and third slots of singles play, as the duo both sport a 10-1 record on the season. Guerreiro's lone loss of the season came in the Eagles 5-4 win over Anderson on Mach 25 where the player was forced to retire due to injury.
"We have a few players who are dealing with nagging injuries and that is a concern," Love said. "This team has some strong competitors though and I know that good effort will be given. Once again, I look forward to watching us compete this week."
A full recap following each day of action can be found at cneagles.com and updates throughout the season on Carson-Newman women's tennis can be viewed on twitter at @CNathletics.
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