Video: Jim Frederick interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In a battle of ranked programs, it was the Eagles of Carson-Newman women's tennis (8-2, 2-0 SAC) overcoming and handing Tennessee Wesleyan (8-1, 4-0 AAC) their first loss of the season.
Mere hours after being tabbed the no. 35 ranked women's tennis program in all of Division II, Carson-Newman would secure a timely 5-2 team victory to keep their win streak alive and move it to six straight since losing to DIII program Sewanee in mid-February.
Thursday marked the second straight win for C-N over the Bulldogs after the Eagles took a 5-2 win to start their 2020-21 season.
The day got started on Thursday with doubles as the Bulldogs looked to be in charge after taking the valuable 1-0 advantage. The lone Eagles doubles win from their home courts came by way of Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) and Summer Reeves (Maidstone, Kent, England) who would take a 6-4 win and get C-N rolling early on.
However, TWU responded immediately and took number one doubles over C-N's duo of Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom) and Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) by a score of 7-6. From there, the visitors secured the doubles point after winning 7-6 and defeating C-N's Violetta Khisamova (Yaroslavl, Russia) and Julia Speiser.
"I think the big thing today was that we lost the doubles point despite us having the ability to win," head coach Jim Frederick said. "Although we lost the doubles point, it did not affect us in singles as we played good singles in a lot of tight matches. Every match goes down to every point and we are able to keep fighting."
When it came to singles play, newly named #15 women's singles player for C-N, Ana Carla Resende kept her winning ways as she defeated TWU's Tara Gilich by a final of 6-4, 6-4 to get C-N officially on the board and level the score at 1-1.
"I unfortunately did not see a lot of her match since I was on the other end, but from what I did see, she is playing like we know she can," Frederick said. "She does not miss a lot of shots and makes her opponent play in a way that very few athletes in the country can."
Once more, the momentum was short-lived as TWU responded with a win in number two singles by Josefa Fernandez as she defeated Summer Reeves 6-3, 6-3, thus making the score 2-1 in favor of the visitors.
The teams continued going back-and-forth as Anita Chornei (Kyiv, Ukraine) would level the score at two apiece with a final of 6-1, 6-3 in number six singles. However, the Eagles would not trail at any point following the win from number six singles as number three, four, and five singles all went in favor of the Eagles.
In number three singles, Violetta Khisamova was once more in action as she saw the two-set minimum against TWU's Honoka Tsuji, winning 7-6, 6-2 and giving C-N a 3-2 lead on the day.
The Eagles then saw Natasha Forrest keep the momentum on C-N's side as she took a thrilling 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 win at number five singles. This secured C-N the win as they would lead 4-2 with only one match left to play.
"That is the way she wanted it since she was down a set before coming back to win the second set," Frederick said. "This should be a very good lesson for her in the sense that she was negative when she was losing and then flipped the switch to stay positive. Once she started being positive, she gained patience and got this huge win for the way she won."
That final match saw graduate student Hannah Price go head-to-head with TWU's Chen Chen Liao in number four singles. The Knoxville native would also see three sets to decide the result as she would come out on top by scores of 6-4, 6-7, 6-4. Thanks to Price, the final read 5-2 as C-N will now turn to their attention to a rare DI matchup on Saturday.
"This is a very good win and the way we did it was more important," Frederick said.
To round out their three-match week, C-N will head to Cullowhee, North Carolina on Saturday to face the Catamounts of Western Carolina. Saturday will mark the first meeting between WCU and C-N since 1989 as first serve is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
-CN-
