JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the second time this season, Carson-Newman faced a shutout loss as the Eagles fell to No. 20 Wingate, 9-0, on Saturday afternoon at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
The loss extends the Eagles' (3-6, 0-3 SAC) losing skid to four matches as they still search for a conference victory and moves the C-N deficit in the series to 0-9 since 2010. This is also the second-straight meeting in which Wingate (10-3, 3-0 SAC) swept C-N in all nine matches.
Carson-Newman fell into a quick 3-0 hole in doubles play, starting with Alisa Liashova (Ukraine) and Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) falling to Sydney Homan and Claudia De Andreis at the No. 2 spot, 8-2.
The third-seeded duo of Mallory Jackson (Erwin, Tenn.) and Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) was not able to conquer the Bulldogs' pairing of Oroma Womeodu and Chyi Lee, losing 8-3.
At the top-seed, Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Düesseldorf, Germany) and Abby Reis (Des Moines, IA.) provided a battle but were not able to overcome the tandem of Michela Verpelli and Meredith Lee as Wingate took the final doubles match with an 8-5 advantage.
As the day turned to singles play, momentum stayed on the side of the Bulldogs as Lee defeated Harris in back-to-back 6-3 sets at the No. 3 spot before Liashova fell in a pair of 6-4 straight-sets to Marisa Ostoja in the No. 5 matchup to secure Wingate's win on the day with a 5-0 lead.
The closest match of the day came at the top-seeded position as Corsato-Owsianka took on Verpelli. Corsato-Owsianka won the first match 7-5 before Verpelli's second set 6-2 victory sent the match into a third-set tiebreaker. The third set was all Wingate as Verrpelli notched a 10-3 win.
Womeodu defeated Price at the No. 4 spot with a staggering 8-2 win that was followed by a straight-set loss for Reis at the second-seed, falling to De Andreis 6-2, 7-5.
The Bulldog blanking was finalized at the No. 6 spot as Jackson fell to Homan 8-3.
The Eagles now get to spend a few days away from action before hosting Shawnee State on Wednesday. That match will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
