JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the second time this season, a Carson-Newman women's tennis match came down to the final match of the day, this time with the Eagles taking the 5-4 victory over Lee on Wednesday afternoon at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
Head coach Jean Love's Carson-Newman (2-2) team has now won three-straight over the Flames.
"The best thing about the women's match is that we won," Love said. "We did not play very well in doubles. We did compete in singles though."
At the No. 3 spot, Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Alisa Liashova (Ukraine) were not able to contain the tandem of Joanna Grzegrzolka and Ana Webber, falling 8-2 in the opening doubles match of the day.
The top-seeded tandem Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Düesseldorf, Germany) and Abby Reis (Des Moines, IA.) fell to Francesca Tondi and Marta Garcia-Nieto 8-4.
Mallory Jackson (Erwin, Tenn.) and Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.), Carson-Newman's second-seeded duo, faced a tough contest against Laura Beth Hardesty and Carley Sickinger, but ultimately reigned as the victors with a slight 8-6 advantage.
As the attention turned toward singles play, Lee held a 2-1 lead but the Eagles would not go down without a fight.
The third-seeded match between Sickinger and Harris was retired early due to an injury to Harris, but Lee got the win in that match 1-0 to open singles play.
C-N's second-slot Reis took down Garcia-Nieto with large 6-0, 6-1 margins.
The top-seeded singles match between Tondi and Corsato-Owsianka saw Lee's No. 1 player take a 6-1 first set before Corsato-Owsianka took a 6-1 set of her own, sending the match into a tiebreaking third set. In the third stanza, Tondi blanked Corsato-Owsianka with a 6-0 decision.
At the No. 4 spot, Price took a pair of 6-4 sets over Grzegrzolka.
Liashova, C-N's fifth-seeded player, took a steep straight-set victory over Hardesty, 6-0 and 6-1 to keep Carson-Newman's chances of having back-to-back wins alive.
With the match tied 4-4 heading into the final match, all eyes turned to the faceoff at the No. 6 spot between Vuckovic and Webber. Vuckovic took the first set 6-2 before solidifying the C-N victory with another 6-2 decision in her straight-set win to hand the Flames (2-1) their first loss of the season.
The Eagles head back on the road for a trip to the Lincoln Memorial Roundup in Harrogate, Tenn. where they will face Martin Methodist on Saturday afternoon. That match is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. A recap will follow on CNeagles.com.
