Rock Hill, S.C. – The South Atlantic Conference released its preseason polls earlier today, Carson-Newman collected 65 total points which was good for seventh place.
"Hopefully, we can build off of what we did last year," Carson-Newman tennis coach Jean Love said. "Certainly we came close enough a lot times last year, but not finishing."
Carson-Newman finished last season with a 14-6 overall record and a 5-6 record in conference play. It was the Eagle's first winning record since the 2009-2010 season when they finished 11-5 overall and 5-3 in conference.
The Eagles return two of their top three players from last season in second-team All-SAC performers Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) and Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Duesseldorf, Germany). Harris completed her freshman season with a 12-7 record at No.1 singles. Corsato-Owsianka finished last season with an overall record of 17-2 at No.2 and No.3 singles.
Freshman Lindy Tatum (Henderson, Tenn.) is the top new comer for the Eagles as she picked up two victories during the fall season.
The defending SAC champions the Wingate Bulldogs received 135 points and six first-place votes to receive the number one ranking in the preseason poll. Wingate went 11-0 in conference play last season.
Queens received 134 points and six first-place votes earning them second place. Last season the Royals were 9-2 in conference play and finished in third place.
Tusculum rounded out the top three by receiving 114 points and finished last season in second place with a conference record of 10-1.
Anderson beat out Newberry for the fourth spot with 87 points, Lincoln Memorial finished with 80 points to secure a sixth place ranking.
The teams that finished immediately below Carson-Newman in the preseason rankings were Lenior-Rhyne and Coker.
Catawba, Mars Hill, and Brevard rounded out the bottom three of the preseason rankings.
