FORT WAYNE, IND.— Carson-Newman closed out its first tournament of the season with another pair of losses Saturday at the Principia College Beach Bash.
The day started with the Eagles (0-4) facing their first shutout of the season in a 5-0 decision against Morehead State (3-0) before a 4-1 loss to Tusculum (2-1).
"There were some good things today, but we have a lot of work to do," head coach Kody DuBarry said. "We made some good changes and there were improvements from yesterday."
The duo of Lauren Williams and Montgomery Sauter used a split day to extend its winning record on the season to 3-1.
Match 1 – Morehead State 5, C-N 0
Lexy Headley and Taryn Nichols kicked off the day at the No. 5 position with sequential losses to Chandler Clark and Lauren Rokey. C-N did not reach a double-digit score in either set, leaving the scores 21-5, 21-9.
The No. 4 pairing of Lauren Williams and Montgomery Sauter came up short of a win, but ultimately lost 21-17, 21-14 to the Morehead State duo of Hannah Mabrey and Liz Allen.
At the No. 3 flight sat Kelly Hughes and Aryana Fazelnia, bringing the largest competition to any Morehead State couple throughout the day. Georgia Childers and Olivia Montelisciani beat Hughes and Fazelnia by small margins 21-18, 21-17, handing Morehead State the official win for the day.
The No. 2 seed, Olivia Lohmeier and Margaret Musselman, dominated C-N's Grace Seymour and Morgan Siwiec in the first set 21-8. The Orange and Blue pair failed to gain enough momentum in the second set, falling 21-11.
The top seeded duo of Summer Coulter and Abby Streuwing lost 21-13 in the first set to Allison Whitten and Hannah Keating. The Morehead State side carried its energy into the second set to beat Coulter and Streuwing 21-16, leaving the final score 5-0 in favor of the Blue and Gold Eagles.
Match 2 – Tusculum 4, C-N 1
Another devastating start to the day for the Eagles began at the No. 5 position with Headley and Nichols. Danikia Chaney and Catherine Clingman began strong with a 21-13 win over the C-N pair. The Pioneers' duo continued its strength into the second set with a 21-9 decision.
Carson-Newman's only win of the day came from the No. 4 flight of Lauren Williams and Montgomery Sauter. They opened the game strong with a 21-13 win over Jordan Zaleski and Lydia Collins. The Tusculum tandem battled back in the second set, but the score fell in favor of the Eagles 21-19, tying the match up 1-1.
The No. 3 paring of Hughes and Fazelnia was the only one to see a three-set match on the day. Gabby Gray and Skyellar Hall defeated the Eagles tandem 21-14 in the first set, but fell 21-17 in the second. Both campaigns went back and forth throughout the entirety of the forced third set, but the Pioneers came out on top by a slim 15-13 margin.
At the No. 2 spot, Seymour and Siwiec lost in similar scoring sets 21-16, 21-15 to the Tusculum duo of Haley Davis and Marissa Morgan. The face-off put the Pioneers up 3-1 heading into the final match with a win in their pocket.
The top-seeded twosome, Coulter and Streuwing, was defeated by Melissa Mazur and Lana Vujosevic in a quick two set throttle 21-11, 21-10.
"We need to take this next week and really work hard and go into next weekend and apply the things that we are doing in practice." DuBarry said.
The Eagles will see the sand again next weekend for the College of Charleston Tournament in Charleston, South Carolina. That tournament will take place on March 9 and 10.
