JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Despite every effort to keep the match close, the Carson-Newman women's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season in nail-biting fashion with a 5-4 decision against Young Harris on Tuesday afternoon at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
The loss marks the fifth straight at the hands of the Mountain Lions.
"The competition was good, but the outcome, obviously was not what we wanted," head coach Jean Love said. "We wanted to get out there and play against another opponent so we could kind of have a gauge as to where we are at right now and what we need to work on."
Carson-Newman (0-1) was only able to grab one doubles victory in the match as the No. 2 tandem of Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Germany) and Abby Reis (Des Moines, IA.) took a win in the second finish of the section, 8-3, over Elin Rundcrantz and Beth Taylor.
Losses at the third and first-seeds in doubles action gave Young Harris (1-1) an early lead. The No. 3 duo of Maria Puerta and Carol Quevedo opened up the day with an 8-2 win over C-N's Klara Vuckovic (Germany) and Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.). The final doubles matchup saw Oriana Labaqui and Laura Sanchez take a close 8-7 advantage over the Eagles' Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) and Alisa Liashova (Ukraine).
"Our No. 2 doubles team did really well," Love said. "I think we've got some work to do because we're still experimenting with our third doubles combo.
"We really just didn't get out of the gate all that great there and I'm not sure why."
At the No. 4 position, Price and Quevedo went to two sets with C-N winning the point, 6-2 and 6-4, to open singles play.
The No. 1 seed match-up saw Rundcrantz take a first set win over Harris, 6-2 before taking another 6-2 win in the second set to close out the match.
Sixth-seeded Vuckovic opened her match against Taylor with a commanding 6-0 first set win before Taylor evened things up with a 7-6 win. The tie-breaker landed in favor of Carson-Newman as Vuckovic took the final set, 10-5, keeping the match locked at three-all.
The No. 2 match-up saw Reis drop back-to-back 6-2 sets to Oriana Labaqui.
Liashova started slow against Peurta, dropping the first set 2-6. After a second set turnaround with a 6-3 decision that forced the third set, Liashova came out victorious with a 10-5 win, tying the match score yet again heading into the final match.
At the No. 3 spot, Corsato-Owsianka quickly fell in a 6-1 decision to Sanchez in the first set before bouncing back to tie face-off with a 6-4 second set. The third set led to an exhilarating back and forth contest that saw Young Harris taking the overall win as Sanchez edged the senior with an 18-16 finish.
"We've got some things we need to learn from those singles matches and some things we need to do a little bit better, but, overall, for the first match of the season, I'm satisfied with what I saw," Love said.
The Eagles now set their sights on a weekend matchup against the Flames of Lee University. That meeting is set for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
