JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the second time in program history, the Carson-Newman women's tennis team finished seventh in the SAC standings after the regular season, setting the Eagles up for a Tuesday quarterfinal meeting with second-seeded, No. 14 Tusculum at the Nichols Tennis Complex on Tusculum's campus.
This marks Carson-Newman's third appearance in the SAC Tournament this decade, however the Eagles (7-9, 4-6 SAC) have not gotten past the quarterfinal in each of the last two attempts. The last time was 2016.
"I, frankly, was anticipating doing better than what have this year," head coach Jean Love said. "I'm not really sure I understand all the factors as to why we haven't been more consistent with our play this year and why at times, I guess, we just haven't played well at all.
"I would have to say that last year's team, overall, did not have the talent that this year's team does, so in that respect, with pretty much everyone coming back and then adding in a couple of freshmen who have played in our top-six and played a big role for us, they've given a good effort, but I just felt we would be better in terms of the wins and losses."
Senior Jill Corsato-Owsianka (Düesseldorf, Germany) played most of the matches at the No. 1 singles spot for the Eagles this season with a 3-6 record there, going 7-8 overall in the top-three spots. Second to her in the top position was junior Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) with a 1-6 record. She was 2-9 in the regular season playing at the first and third seeds.
Sophomore Alisa Liashova (Ukraine) and freshman Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) had the best singles records for C-N this season at 10-6, playing anywhere from the third to sixth spots throughout the season.
On the doubles side, Corsato-Owsianka and freshman Abby Reis (Des Moines, IA) were the primary No. 1 duo with a 7-8 record, 8-8 overall and 5-5 in SAC action. They held the best doubles record for Love's squad this year.
The previous meeting between the Eagles and Pioneers (19-1, 9-1 SAC) was just a week prior with Tusculum leaving the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex with a 9-0 win over C-N on its senior day.
The Eagles kept things close in doubles play losing by just a few points in all three matches but were not able to contain the Pioneers in singles play, losing five of the six matches in one or two sets.
"I think one thing the team can take away from last Tuesday's regular season match with Tusculum is that we were competitive in doubles, we had two of the doubles that we lost 8-6, so I think they can take from that that they can compete and if we compete well, it's not out of the realm of possibility to win a match or two," Love mentioned. "We had some competitive singles matches, even though we didn't win them.
"We've got to be willing to do some things differently in order to win. We did that after last week, especially in doubles, and then went out against Queens and didn't really of any of those things consistently enough."
For the sixth consecutive season, Tusculum closed out the regular season at second in the conference standings behind Wingate, the only team it lost to this season. The Pioneers were 8-1 victors over No. 37 Newberry in their final match of the season, putting them on a two-match winning streak to conclude the season.
Katarina Majorova, the 40th-ranked singles player in the nation according to Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association, was the most relied upon singles player for Tusculum at the No. 1 spot, garnering a 13-2 record, 7-2 in conference action.
Annie McCullough, ranked the 66th singles player in the nation, was undefeated in the regular season with a 16-0 record, 10-0 against the SAC, at the second and third-seeds. 14 of her matches were played as the No. 3, however. Not far behind her in the rankings lies Franziska Funke at No. 69 with a 15-2 overall record, mostly as the No. 2 singles player for TC.
McCullough and her twin sister Caitlin McCullough were the primary top-seeded duo for Adam Jackson's team with a 14-3 record at the No. 1 spot, 16-3 overall. As of last Wednesday, they were Oracle/ITA's No. 23 doubles pair in the nation.
Tusculum has won nine-straight matches against the Eagles this decade.
"Even though we're the seventh seed and they're the second seed, we're not completely out of the ballpark," Love said. "If we play well, then we will be very competitive and have the chance to pull off the upset."
Tuesday's match will begin at 3:15 p.m. from the Nichols Tennis Complex in Greeneville, Tenn. The winner of the quarterfinal match will then head to the Cayce Tennis Center in Columbia, S.C. on Friday to take on the winner of the sixth-seeded Anderson v. third-seed Queens match in the semifinals.
