SEWANEE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman's women's tennis clinches a win against nationally-ranked Division III institution, the Sewanee Tigers 6-3.
Entering their 2019 campaign, the Tigers were ranked No. 12 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. They achieved national and regional rankings in the preseason polls after an impressive finish to their 2018 season. They went 22-5, appeared in the SAA Regular Season and Tournament Championships, and capped it off with a third-round finish in the NCAA Championships.
Carson-Newman came into the match conveniently having spent a lot of time practicing indoors at the Knoxville Racquet Club due to weather. So, the Eagles were prepared for the fast indoor courts at Sewanee's facilities and seemingly made the most of that advantage.
Since Sewanee is a DIII team, the match was played according to DIII rules. This means that each doubles match this time around counted as an individual point and not best two out of three for the point. Additionally, doubles matches played to eight games instead of six.
The Eagles jumped ahead 2-1 in the doubles competition and won at the No. 1 and 2 positions. Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) and Ali Harris (Crossville, Tenn.) defeated Catherine Owen and Ellie Czura 8-5 and Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Abby Reis (Des Moines, IA) prevailed against Lilly Stephens and Jordan Besh 8-6.
The loss in doubles for the Eagles came at the No. 3 spot where Klara Vuckovic (Germany) and Alisa Liashova (Ukraine) were defeated by Caroline Adams and Mary Jane McCaghren of Sewanee.
On the singles side of competition, there were no three-set matches but definitely a few sets that were tight as the Eagles only dropped matches at No. 2 and No. 6. Harris was defeated by McCaghren 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles and Vuckovic fought in the first set but narrowly lost it 7-6 at No. 6 but lost the second set 6-3 to Maura McCrary.
Resende defeated Czura 7-5, 6-2 at No. 1 barely making it out with the first set. At No. 3, Price came out on top against Adams handily 6-2, 6-3. Liashova handled her first set against Haley Tucker at No. 4 well winning 6-4 but had to kick it up a notch to grab the second 7-6.
The Eagles improve to 3-2 on the season and will compete again against the University of Tennessee Chattanooga on Tuesday in Chattanooga at 2 p.m. For more information and updates, check back on cneagles.com.
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