VIDEO: Jean Love Interview

ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Carson-Newman women's tennis team was voted to a sixth place standing in the South Atlantic Conference preseason coaches' poll released Wednesday by the league.

The Eagles concluded the 2016-17 season at fifth in the conference with an 8-10 overall record, going 7-4 against conference opponents. Head coach Jean Love's team made an appearance in the South Atlantic Conference Quarterfinals for the first time since 2010 before falling to Anderson (S.C.) 5-2.

"It's probably a pretty fair assessment from where we finished last year," Love said of her team's placement. "We do have some new talent this year, obviously, that nobody has seen yet, and I think we have some good new talent to come in and help us."

Five starters from last year's squad make their way back to Mossy Creek this season including Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) and Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Germany) who were named All-Conference singles honorable mentions at the end of last season.

Harris closed out the 2017 campaign with a 6-12 record at the top singles position. She holds an 18-19 career record with the Eagles as she enters her junior season.

Corsato-Owsianka tallied a 10-7 record last season as she split time at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. Preparing for her senior season, she has the opportunity to become the first C-N women's tennis player to notch 40 wins in her career. She currently holds a 35-19 career record.

Harris and Corsato-Owsianka led the doubles side of matches for the Eagles, going 8-8 overall at the No. 1 spot last year, 7-4 against conference competitors.

"With Ali, she's just continually adding some things to her game, strategy-wise, technique-wise and also just the mental component to the game," Love said of Harris. "I would expect another strong season from her."

In doubles action, C-N returns All-Conference honorable mentions Alisa Liashova (Ukraine) and Klara Vuckovic (Germany), the No. 2 doubles team for the Eagles last season. The duo racked up a 13-3 overall record in 2017, 9-2 against SAC competition.

"They really were surprising, but they are, both of them, once the lights go on and its competition time, they do not want to lose and they like to compete," Love said of the duo. "They just kept getting better as the season went on. Hopefully, I don't know if they're going to be playing as partners this year, but wherever we put them, obviously, they're going to be strong doubles players for us."

C-N welcomes three freshmen to the team this season to round out a team that is full of returning talent that hopes to make a return to the SAC Tournament at the conclusion of the season.

"I see a pretty similar result this year if we can clean up a few things," Love assessed. "There's no reason we shouldn't finish sixth as we were picked to, but we are shooting certainly for higher than that and we believe we can finish higher than that.

"We just have to go out and focus on the process and, if we can do that, everything else will take care of itself."

Reigning SAC Tournament Champion Tusculum and regular season champion Wingate tied for the top spot with 101 total points. The Pioneers garnered five first place votes while Wingate received four.

Wingate closed out the 2017 regular season with a 17-4 overall record, taking a perfect 11-0 record in the conference. Tusculum was tied for second heading into the tournament with a 20-8 overall record and a 9-2 advantage in league play.

Queens was chosen to take the fourth spot followed by Anderson and Lincoln Memorial.

Newberry was just four votes behind C-N's 64 received to land at seventh on the poll.

Lenoir-Rhyne, Catawba, Coker and Mars Hill rounded out the bottom section of the poll.

The Eagles 2018 campaign begins on Feb. 3 as C-N hosts Delta State at 1 p.m. at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex. Conference play will begin on March 11 with a trip to Newberry after a staggering nine non-conference competitions.

Rank            School (first-place votes)                                  Total

1.                  Tusculum (5)                                                          101

1.                  Wingate (4)                                                            101

3.                  Queens                                                                    95

4.                  Anderson                                                                86

5.                  Lincoln Memorial                                                 70

6.                  Carson-Newman                                                  64

7.                  Newberry                                                               60

8.                  Lenior-Rhyne                                                         48

9.                  Catawba                                                                  35

10.                Coker                                                                        32

11.                Mars Hill                                                                   23