JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman women's tennis team will look to escape the cold weather of Tennessee, when they travel to North Carolina this weekend to take on Wingate and Catawba.
"Against both Wingate and Catawba, we need to start strong in the doubles so we don't put too much pressure on our singles." Carson-Newman coach Jean Love said, "If we can do that, then it will put us in a position to win. We need to cut down on the unforced errors, put a lot of balls in play, and play the big points well. Hopefully we can do this and come out with two wins this weekend."
The Eagles have come on strong as of late, thanks to the play of preseason All-South Atlantic Conference performers Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) and Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Germany). Harris has is on a two-match winning streak and has improved her overall record to 3-4 at No.1 singles. Corsato-Owsianka is coming off a straight sets victory at Coker to help improve her record to 3-4 at No.2 doubles.
Freshman Alisa Liashova (Ukraine) has won two straight matches while compiling a 4-3 record at the No. 3 singles position. Fellow freshmen Klara Vuckovic (Germany) and Lindy Tatum (Henderson, Tenn.) have also played well this season. Vuckovic has compiled a 3-4 record at No.4 singles while Tatum has gone 2-5 at No. 5 singles. Sydney Ledington (Corbin, Ky.) is also coming off of a win to improve her season record to 2-5.
Things have started to click for the Eagles in doubles play. The tandem of Corsato-Owsianka and Harris have won two-straight at No.1 doubles. The duo of Liashova and Vuckovic have won four-straight matches and are undefeated in conference play at the No.2 doubles position. Rounding out doubles play for the Eagles is the tandem of Ledington and Tatum who have a 1-4 record on the season so far.
The Bulldogs are coming into the weekend matchup as the top team in the South Atlantic Conference. Both Claudia De Andreis and Elena Pellegrini have received SAC player of the week honors. De Andreis is 5-2 at the No.1 singles position, while Pellegrini is 6-0 at primarily at No. 3 singles.
Filling out the rest of the singles lineup is Layla Tanik, Oroma Womeodu, Andrea Ternera and Sydney Homan. Tanik is 7-0 while seeing playing time at the No. 4 – No. 6 singles positions. Womeodu has compiled a 6-2 record over multiple singles positions, while Ternera has a 5-2 record at the No.2 singles position. Homan rounds out singles play with a 5-2 record over the No.4 and No.5 singles positions.
In doubles play the Bulldogs are pretty stout at all three positions. The No.1 doubles duo of De Andreis and Homan is 3-2 on the season, while the No. 2 doubles tandem of Maria Garcia and Womeodu is 6-1 on the season. Rounding out doubles play is the tandem of Tanik and Ternera who have compiled a 3-2 record at No. 3 doubles.
On Sunday afternoon the Eagles will face-off against the Catawba College Catawba Indians (10-5, 2-3). The Eagles have won the past two matchups against the Catawba Indians and will look to continue their winning trend on Saturday. The Catawba Indians are coming off of a 5-4 victory over Davis & Elkins.
Catawba is led by Erisa Onchi who is 7-5 at No. 1 singles, while Sophie Hirsch has compiled an 8-5 record primarily at the No. 2 singles position on the year. Kristen Rocko is the most consistent No. 3 singles player with a 4-4 record. Olivia Wooldridge has locked down the No. 4 singles position with a 7-2 record. At the final two singles position there is a lot of shuffling going on for the Indians, with Emily Corcoran, Marina Geremias and Maddy Henderson split time.
In doubles plays the Indians have found a few combinations that have begun to work together as of late. The No. 1 doubles tandem of Hirsch and Onchi is 5-6 on the season, while the duo of Rocko and Wooldridge have 4-6 record at No. 2 doubles. The final tandem of Geremias and Henderson is 2-3 on the season at No. 3 doubles.
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