ANDERSON, S.C. – For the final time this regular season, 27th-ranked Carson-Newman women's tennis (15-4, 9-2 SAC) would match wits with a nationally ranked foe, this time being the 52nd-ranked Anderson Trojans.
Since 2011, it is the Trojans who led the series history by a 9-2 margin. The last win for C-N came back in 2019 when they successfully defended home court with a 5-2 win. The last win on the road against the Trojans for the Orange and Blue came in March 2016 as it would be a 5-4 result falling in favor of the Eagles.
However, as it has been shown in 2022, anything is possible as the Orange and Blue saw a 4-3 victory from the Anderson Tennis Complex Wednesday.
The host Trojans would get the early doubles point as they won from the number one and three flight, while C-N avoided the sweep with a win at number two doubles. 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 6-1 win.
However, Anderson took the number one decision over C-N's duo of Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom) and Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) by a score of 6-2. From there, the host program secured the doubles point after winning 6-2 over C-N's Violetta Khisamova (Yaroslavl, Russia) and Julia Speiser.
"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," head coach Jim Frederick said.
When it came to singles play, it would the Eagles responding efficiently as they would only drop results at number two and six flights. Senior Ana Carla Resende gathered her 14th win of the spring, taking a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 win over AU's Blouin to push the Brazil native to 8-2 in SAC play for 2022.
From there, the wins kept coming for the Orange and Blue as Violetta Khisamova gathered a 6-4, 6-1 win to push herself to 11-7 overall, breaking a three-match losing streak, including 8-3 in the South Atlantic Conference.
The next Eagle to see a win over the Trojans was graduate student Hannah Price at the number four flight. As she looks to close out her 2022 spring season on a high note, the Knoxville native saw a 6-2, 7-5 win. This pushes the C-N veteran to 13-6 overall and 8-3 in SAC play as she will be honored on Saturday as part of the annual Senior Day festivities in Mossy Creek.
The Eagles then saw Natasha Forrest keep the momentum on C-N's side as she took a thrilling 6-2, 6-3 win to move C-N to four points gathered on Wednesday, to secure the Orange and Blue their ninth conference win of the spring. Meanwhile, the junior (Forrest) moves to 14-5 overall and 9-2 in SAC play for her 2022 season.
Unfortunately for C-N, they would see both Anita Chornei (Kyiv, Ukraine) and Summer Reeves falter in Wednesday's action. First, Reeves would be in her usual number two singles placement, as she fell 6-2, 6-1 which moves her to 6-10 overall, including a fifth straight loss, and 2-9 in SAC play.
Finally, Anita Chornei would be bested at number six singles by a final of 6-4, 3-6, 2-6 to see her fourth loss of the spring (14-4 overall) and only her second SAC loss of the 2022 season as well.
"This is a very good win and the way we did it was more important," Frederick said. "We now turn our attention to closing out the regular season at home on Saturday as we honor Rintaro Oka and Hannah Price for Senior Day."
To round out the regular season, Carson-Newman returns home for Senior Day on Saturday against the Catawba College Catawba Indians. First serve is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
-CN-
