DAHLONEGA, Ga. – For the second time this season, Carson-Newman women's tennis have fallen to a non-conference foe. Saturday saw the Eagles (5-2, 2-0 SAC) face the Nighthawks of North Georgia (3-0, 0-0 PBC) with the home team taking the 5-2 team victory.
Even though the Eagles lost, their day started off strong as they took the valuable doubles point behind two 6-3 victories. Senior Abby Reis (Des Moines, IA) and junior Ana Carla Resende (
Minas Gerais, Brazil) once again saw action from the number one singles position on Saturday. They came into the match on a two-match win streak over Limestone and Coker who are both South Atlantic Conference foes. The pair continued their hot winning ways with another victory to help push the Eagles ahead.
"Girls won the doubles point and had a chance at two other matches against North Georgia," head coach Jim Frederick said.
The other doubles win came from freshman Julia Speiser and Summer Reeves (Maidstone, Kent, England) who notched their second straight doubles win and gave the Eagles the advantage heading into singles play.
When singles play started, only Resende was able to gain the other Eagles point with a battle at number one singles. Resende, now 25-9 in her Eagles career as number one singles, continued her path to leading the Eagles and playing like a preseason All-SAC selection as she saw her match go to three sets, ultimately taking the final 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 to give the Eagles a 2-0 advantage before dropping the other five single matches.
Reeves came into Saturday's action with six consecutive singles victory at number four but was overcome by Adams of UNG. However, as her coach Jim Frederick stated, she fought at the chance to claim the match but could not muster enough strength as she fell 4-6, 1-6.
Senior Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) has played number three singles all year long for the Eagles and suffered her second loss on the short season after falling 3-6, 4-6 to her Nighthawks opponent. Price is now 6-2 on the year with her other loss coming to Division I foe Austin Peay back in February from the Knoxville Racquet Club.
Once again, the key to how Carson-Newman has competed is the depth of their freshman from top to bottom. Along with Reeves, freshman Violetta Khisamova (Yaroslavl, Russia) has been steady at number two singles throughout this season. She fell 1-6, 4-6 on Saturday but has been able to keep all her matches close no matter win or loss. Speiser saw her second straight match at number six singles, this time rattling up a 2-6, 2-6 loss but continuing to improve on her young Eagles career. This was only Speiser's second loss in six singles matches as she is now 4-2 so far.
The Eagles will be back in action tomorrow afternoon as they keep their Peach State journey alive when they journey to Young Harris, Ga. The Eagles will see a matchup with the Young Harris Panthers from the Bob & Gayle Nichols Tennis Complex starting at 2:00 p.m. Sunday.
Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman women's tennis at cneagles.com and via all social media accounts.
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