JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman women's tennis team gears up to open the season on Tuesday as the Eagles play host to Young Harris at 1 p.m. at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
The originally scheduled season opener slated for this past Saturday against Delta State was canceled due to cold temperatures and court conditions.
"Hopefully the weather will treat us right tomorrow and we can get this tennis match in," head coach Jean Love said. "Trust me, we are ready to play. We are chomping at the bit. We just have to get a little bit of luck with the weather."
This match serves as the eighth meeting between the two squads since the start of this decade.
The Eagles look to build upon their 8-10 record from 2017 with a potential return to the South Atlantic Conference Tournament after their quarterfinal elimination a season ago.
Head coach Jean Love's team features six returning players from last year's team including All-SAC Preseason Single Second Team honoree Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) who went 6-12 at the top spot in singles play in 2017.
"We're really going to be looking at some of the veterans to provide some leadership and be consistent in their play right from the very start," Love said of her returning players. "If my other returners can step up and provide a little calming influence here initially, then that's going to help out."
The team has a duo of seniors in Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Düesseldorf, Germany) and Sydney Ledington (Corbin, Ky.). Corsato-Owsianka enters the season with a career singles record of 35-19, giving her the chance to become the first C-N women's tennis player to notch 40 wins in her career this decade. She currently holds the program record for most singles wins in a season since 2010 with 17 in 2016. Her tally of 10 last season puts her in a tie for eighth on the same list.
Ledington was 8-9 in singles play at the No. 6 spot a season ago while recording a 4-14 at No. 3 for doubles action, mostly playing alongside Lindy Tatum.
Two of the three freshmen on this year's team will be relied upon in singles play as part of the top six.
"I'm kind of looking for the freshmen maybe to be freshmen, but they've got some talent," Love mentioned.
Head coach Cammie Nix's Mountain Lions squad enters the match at 0-1 on the season after dropping a close one its season opener to Lenoir-Rhyne last Thursday, 5-4. Young Harris jumped out to a 2-1 lead through doubles action with the No. 1 duo of Oriana Labaqui and Ana Rodriguez picking up a win before the No. 2 pair of Carol Quevedo and Elin Rundcrantz did the same. Singles action saw the Bears tying things up at three-all before Lenoir-Rhyne closed the match down with wins over Quevedo at the No. 5 spot and Beth Taylor at the No. 6 spot.
Seniors Elin Rundcrantz and Laura Sanchez picked up the only Young Harris singles wins at the No. 1 and No. 4 spots, respectively.
The last meeting between the Eagles and Mountain Lions saw Young Harris leave Mossy Creek with a 7-2 victory on Feb. 7, 2015. The only points of the day tallied by the Orange and Blue came off of doubles wins by the No. 1 duo of Mallory Jackson and Corsato-Owsianka and the No. 3 tandem of Patricia Guerreiro and Jennifer Ott.
Carson-Newman has lost four straight against Young Harris. The last C-N win in the series came on Feb. 12, 2011 when the Eagles took a demanding 8-1 victory to open up the season.
Tuesday's match is slated to begin at 1 p.m. at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex. Stats can be found on cneagles.com throughout the duration of the match.
