VIDEO: Jean Love Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After more than a week away from action, Carson-Newman opens its South Atlantic Conference schedule on Thursday afternoon as Lincoln Memorial visits Mossy Creek to start a three-day slate of SAC action that includes a trip to Newberry before returning home to take on No. 20 Wingate.
"There's some days we've been better than others, but we have learned a lot, I think each person has," head coach Jean Love said. "We've learned some things about our singles play, about our doubles play, so we're ready."
The team's last match was played on March 3 in which the Eagles (3-3, 0-0 SAC) saw a three-match winning streak come to an end against the Bellarmine Knights with a 6-3 loss.
Love's team was only able to garner one win in doubles play from the No. 3 tandem of Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Mallory Jackson (Erwin, Tenn.) before Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Düesseldorf, Germany) and Alisa Liashova (Ukraine) picked up a pair of singles wins.
Liashova's win marked her fifth-straight win, putting her at 5-1 at this point in the season.
Corsato-Owsianka's victory at the top spot marked her 38th career singles win. She needs just one more singles victory to bypass Patricia Guerreiro for the most this decade.
"Over the last decade here, there's been some pretty good women's tennis players come through here, so for her to, you know, have the most singles wins with the next one she gets for this decade, I think that's just a testament to what she's been able to do in her time here because she is a senior year."
LMU (7-2, 1-0 SAC) commenced conference competition on Saturday with a 7-2 win over Catawba.
The Lady Railsplitters were selected to finish fifth by the conference's coaches in the preseason poll after going 13-4 last season, 8-3 in SAC competition. Pinol earned a spot on the All-SAC singles second team while the tandem of Johanna Delisse and Julia Loos were tabbed a first team doubles pair.
The last time the teams faced off was on March 28 of last season when the Eagles picked up a 6-3 victory at home. C-N took two of the three doubles matches to start the day before winning three of its four singles matches in straight-sets. Ali Harris at the No. 1 spot defeated Johanna Delisse in a three-set battle.
Since 2010, the Eagles and 'Splitters have met eight times with LMU holding a 5-3 advantage.
Friday's makeup match from the March 10 date will start at 1:30 p.m. from the Oakland Tennis Center on Newberry's campus. Before facing the Eagles, Newberry will host Queens on Wednesday.
The Wolves (14-3, 1-0 SAC) are currently on a nine-match winning streak. In that span, the team has logged five shutouts against opponents, four of those happening consecutively. They have outscored the opposition 72-9 since the streak began on Feb. 17.
Following a 2017 season in which the Wolves concluded with a 15-10 record, 6-5 in SAC play, they were voted to finish seventh in the Conference preseason coaches' poll.
Senior Amanda Carillo was named to the preseason All-SAC singles second team list after going 16-8 a season ago, 9-2 against Conference opponents. This season, she has compiled a 13-2 record as the top-seeded Newberry player.
The Wolves lead the series 5-3 since 2010. C-N held a 5-4 edge in the previous matchup last season.
Carson-Newman returns home on Saturday, hosting No. 20 Wingate at 2 p.m. The Bulldogs (8-3, 1-0 SAC) will travel to Catawba on Thursday before making their way to Mossy Creek.
Wingate's conference slated opened back on Feb. 27 with a 9-0 win over Anderson. The team is looking to get back on track following a 9-0 shutout at the hands of third-ranked Columbus State on March 5.
The Bulldogs were deemed co-favorites to win the conference title in the preseason coaches' poll alongside Tusculum after a winning the SAC regular season championship for a seventh-consecutive year just last season. They have 60-straight conference matches.
The tandem of Maria Garcia and Oroma Womeodu was tabbed a first-team doubles pairing while Claudia De Andreis was named to the first team singles list.
De Andreis has garnered a 6-3 record on the season at the top two spots, but most of her time has been spent as the No. 2 player with a 5-3 record so far.
The Eagles have lost all eight of their matches against the Bulldogs since the start of the decade. Last season, Wingate shutout C-N for just the second time since 2010.
"It's going to come down to each person trusting and believing in themselves and their teammates," Love said. "It's just right there for us because if we could come out and compete well and do what we can do, then we're there."
The trio of days will begin on Thursday between the Eagles and 'Splitters with a 1:30 p.m. match at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex. A full recap and results will be available on cneagles.com after each day of action.
