CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman women's tennis team gets ready to kick off the 2018-19 season in Clarksville Friday facing Austin Peay for the first time in program history.
"I think everybody's excited to play, and I'm excited to see them play," Coach Jim Frederick said. "Just to get started in our quest to become a really good team is exciting. It'll be a good test for us to see where we are."
Going head to head with a Division I school in Austin Peay, the Eagles face a strong opponent. The Governors have a solid 3-0 record already this season having defeated Middle Tennessee State University, University of Chattanooga, and Western Kentucky.
Heading into the match, Frederick is looking for two things from his players: effort and competitiveness.
"That's all to me that matters," Frederick said. "If we're competitive, fight for every point, and have a good, positive mindset, whatever the situation is I'll be very happy."
Along with effort and competitiveness, Frederick noted that from a skills perspective his two main focuses have been on specifically offense in singles and the doubles game as a whole.
The Eagles have seven players returning this season including two sophomores Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Abby Reis (Des Moines, IA) that had solid debuts during the 2017-18 season. Price went 10-6 in singles at the No. 4 spot and Reis earned an honorable mention on the All-South Atlantic Conference doubles list alongside, now graduated, Jill Corsato-Owsianka.
A pair of new faces have been added to the roster, one of them being freshman Ana Carla Resende from Minas Gerais, Brazil who will play at the top of the lineup for the Eagles.
"Besides being a very, very good player," Frederick said of Resende, "She is absolutely a better human being. She's got some things that we've worked on in her two weeks here that she's got to get better at but she's really receptive to coaching."
Frederick believes results will take care of themselves as long as the team continues to work on being competitive and maintaining a positive attitude throughout each match.
"I don't think you put pressure on yourself to win a match," Frederick said. "You put pressure on yourself to compete the way you should compete and have a positive attitude. You have control over that. The winning you don't necessarily have control over, the other team certainly has a certain amount to do with that."
The Eagles will make the four-hour drive to Clarksville Friday morning and begin their match at 1 p.m. For results and more information check back on cneagles.com.
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