VIDEO: Jean Love Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Fresh off their first South Atlantic Conference win against Mars Hill, Carson-Newman prepares to as the Pioneers of Tusculum, ranked 31st in the nation by Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association, comes to town for a Tuesday senior day matchup at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.
Carson-Newman (3-11, 1-7 SAC) will honor four players after the match in Taylor Barie (Woodstock, Ga.), Kevin Mendes (Chattanooga, Tenn.), Rodolfo Schwarz (Brazil) and Jerry Hughes (Shelbyville, Tenn.).
"It will be hard to see them go, it always is," head coach Jean love said. "But, you know, that's the way it is. That's life and all of these individuals have worked hard and improved their games and helped this program and, for that, I'm very thankful for.
"Obviously, like I said, I've got to let them go and that will be hard. It will be hard not seeing them out there. I hope that tomorrow is a special day for them and that they come in and compete hard."
The Eagles hope to keep momentum on their side after a 5-4 win over Mars Hill. A doubles sweep gave C-N a 3-0 lead heading into singles play where wins in the first two matches there won the day for Love's team.
The victory ended a seven-match losing streak for C-N as the team prepares to begin its final week of the season.
"If we can't do well in the doubles then we just good enough to be able to win four out of six or five out of six singles matches, and not many teams are," Love said. "so that was big for us to come out with the doubles being 3-0 and then the first couple of singles matches, the first three that went on, you know, we were able to capitalize on those matches, so that was good."
Tusculum (13-5, 4-3 SAC) heads to No. 14 Wingate on Monday before heading to Jefferson City. The Pioneers saw a five-match winning streak come to a close on Sunday in a 5-4 loss to No. 16 Queens.
Third-year head coach Adam Jackson's squad currently sits at fifth in the conference standings. The team was pegged to finish sixth in the conference preseason coaches' poll following a 2016-17 campaign that saw Tusculum go 12-11, 6-5 in SAC action. The Pioneers made it into the SAC Championships but lost to Lincoln Memorial in the quarterfinal, 5-1.
Tomas Kmetko and Yago Fernandez were named to the second team doubles squad in the preseason accolades lists. Kmetko made it onto the first team singles group while Fernandez landed on the second team for singles players.
Marco Meon has had the most success at the No. 1 position out of the three players who have been called upon to play at the spot, holding a 4-5 record. In doubles play, Tashique Kader and Gabriel Yaguar have garnered an 8-2 record as the top-pairing. The duo fell in the dual against Queens, putting a halt on their six-match winning streak.
Since the start of the decade, the Eagles have lost eight consecutive matches to TC. The most recent meeting came last season with a 7-2 Pioneer victory.
"Hopefully there will be a little bit of renewed confidence there, and, hopefully, we can show up and be competitive against Tusculum," Love mentioned.
Tuesday's rivalry matchup features a first serve time of 3:30 p.m. at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex with senior day festivities following the conclusion of the match.
