JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.— The Carson-Newman women's tennis team nearly made a Senior Day comeback before falling to Tusculum 6-3 Tuesday afternoon for its final South Atlantic Conference match of the regular season.
Seniors Patricia Guerreiro (Fernao-Ferro, Portugal), Brooke Sanderson (Evans, Ga.) and Haleigh Chastain (Knoxville, Tenn.) competed at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex for the final time in their careers Tuesday afternoon.
"The main thing that I want my seniors to know is how special a time it has been. Each of them has grown as a tennis player since they have been here, but we have gotten to know each other as human beings," coach Jean Love said following the match. "It has been a great ride. Obviously we would have like to have won today, but when it's all said and done, you might not always remember all the wins and losses. But you do remember the people and the relationships. All four of these seniors, Juan Perez on the men's side included, are fun people and they are good people. I hope that they will be able to look back on this time and have some fond memories."
Tusculum (18-3, 9-1 SAC) jumped out to an early 2-1 lead over the Eagles (13-6, 5-6 SAC) by taking two of the three doubles matches in the first round of action.
Sanderson and freshman Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) would fall 9-7 in the second-seeded contest and Mallory Jackson (Ewrin, Tenn.) and Gabrielle Wood (Woodstock, Ga.) would lose 8-1 at No. 3.
Carson-Newman's No. 1 pairing of Guerreiro and Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Duesseldorf, Germany) would then put the Eagles on the scoreboard for the first time as the duo picked up an 8-4 win over Erin Mills and Kealee Heffner in the matches-best doubles contest.
Five of the six singles matches were forced to the third-set as Carson-Newman continued to battle back each and every dual.
Harris tallied a win in the leadoff spot for the Eagles as the freshman took down Heffner 6-4, 4-6 and 6-0 to put her team only down a point. Guerreiro would then lose a hard-fought battle at No. 2 as the senior fell to Franziska Funke 6-2, 3-6 and 6-3 in three sets. Corsato-Owsianka would then avenge her teammate with a 0-6, 6-1 and 6-2 win at NO. 3.
The victory at No. 3 for Corsato-Owsianka was the sophomore's 16th of the season in singles play. The win total is five more than Wood, Harris and Guerreiro who have accumulated the second-highest win total on the team at 11 on the season.
Jackson would then lose 6-2, 6-0 to Adrienne Kaye at No. 4 to set the Eagles up with a must-win final two matches of the day at No. 5 and 6.
Sanderson and Wood were unable to complete the comeback as both players lost contested three-setters. The senior Sanderson fell 4-6, 6-3 and 6-3 at No. 5 while Wood lost 2-6, 6-2 and 6-3 to Emily Waters in the final match of the day.
"They competed and fought hard today. We were so close at No. 2 doubles and that would have put us up 2-1. That is kind of how it has been for us this year. We have had some close matches this year where if we could have just won a few more points, it would have been a completely different story," Love said. "This is kind of a nutshell of the season in what happened to us today. We fought back. One, two and three singles were each three-set battles. We had to have five and six and both again were three-set battles. We weren't able to come out on top but you can't fault their efforts. I wish we would have had a few more things go our way. They could have gone away, but we didn't. They gave it all they had and that's worth a lot."
Carson-Newman will compete in its final match of the season on Sunday at King beginning at 2:00 p.m.
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