Trio of Eagles take home SAC Honors

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Posted: Apr 20, 2016

ROCK HILL, S.C—The Carson-Newman women's tennis team had a trio of players receive postseason honors Wednesday morning as the South Atlantic Conference announced that freshman Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) and sophomore Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Duesseldorf, Germany) were named All-Conference second team selections for singles play while senior Patricia Guerreiro (Fernao-Ferro, Portugal) was tabbed an Honorable Mention.

The awards come after Carson-Newman's highest win total since the 2009 season.

Harris concluded her freshman campaign with a 12-7 record in singles play as the team's No. 1 player for the entirety of the season. The Crossville, Tenn. native won a season-high three singles matches in-a-row from March 15 to March 18. Harris took down Brevard's Nirvanna Silva 6-1, 6-2, Lenoir-Ryne's Dominique Bruce 6-3, 6-4 and Bellarmine's Maggie Walroth 6-3, 6-1 during the span.

The freshman competed every match atop the lineup and finished off conference play with a 4-6 record.

"This award really means a lot. We have put in put in so much work this season and trained really hard prior to the season," Harris said of the selection. "Just to get second team All-Conference is really an honor. The season was very nerve-racking, especially those matches at the beginning of the season. Once I got into it, I started to really like the competition and it was an honor to play No. 1 singles for our team this season."

Corsato-Owsianka led the squad with wins after concluding the season with a 17-2 record in singles play. As Carson-Newman's No. 3 player, Corsato-Owsianka won 14 straight-matches from Feb. 26 to April 8. During the span, the sophomore needed only two sets to dispose of her competition in every match but one on March 30, when Corsato-Owsianka defeated Lincoln Memorial's Javiera Gonzalez 2-6, 6-3 and 6-4.

The Duesseldorf, Germany native wrapped up conference play with a 9-2 record on the year.

"It is really cool to be recognized because of all the hard work we have been putting in this year," Corsato-Owsianka said. "My mindset has changed a lot since freshman year. I go into matches with a lot more confidence now and I am a lot calmer than I was last year. I always just try and stay positive and never give up."

Carson-Newman's Honorable Mention, Guerrreiro, capped off her season with a 12-5 record as the team's No. 2 player in singles. After beginning the season with a 10-0 record, Guerreiro was forced to retire in a March 25 match against Anderson because of a shoulder injury to record her first loss of the year.

Guerreirro finished off the season with a 6-5 SAC record and a four-year career tally of 40-30 in singles play.

The postseason accolades for Harris, Corsato-Owsianka and Guerreiro come a year after Guerriero and teammate Jennifer Ott received Honorable Mention honors for doubles play following a 15-3 record as the team's No. 3 pairing in 2015.

The last time Carson-Newman received multiple postseason selections from the conference was in the 2010 season when Amanda Bartlett and Elizabeth Sneed were named to the conference's first team for singles and Taryn Cappadona was appointed to the second team.

To keep up with Carson-Newman tennis, stay tuned into cneagles.com for all offseason coverage.

2016 South Atlantic Conference Women's Tennis Yearly Honors

First Team Doubles

Carlotta Nassi/Melissa Laing, Queens

Amanda Carrillo/Vanessa Ortiz, Newberry

Claudia De Andreis/Maria Garcia, Wingate

Second Team Doubles

Kealee Heffner/Erin Mills, Tusculum

Ivey Welborn/Rebecca Bruning, Anderson

Marta Gonzalez/Caroline Nielson, Queens

Honorable Mention Doubles

Liz Renteria/Erisa Onchi, Catawba