GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – With their 5-2 team win against Tusculum, Carson-Newman (11-6, 7-4 SAC) secured its first win from Greeneville since April 11, 2001.
"Being able to know that tomorrow we will play for sure to wrap up the regular season is a good feeling," head coach Jim Frederick said. "We know the schedule for next week's tournament but we have one more match before we get there."
The Eagles started off the match claiming the doubles point thanks to the efforts and victories in two out of the three matches. Junior Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) and senior Abby Reis (Des Moines, IA) were victorious in number one action as they battled to 6-4 result and move their 2021 doubles record to 9-8 overall and 6-5 against the SAC. The other Eagles victory came from the freshman duo of Summer Reeves (Maidstone, Kent, England) and Julia Speiser who took to a tiebreaker before claiming the 7-6 (7-3) victory and handing C-N an early 1-0 match advantage.
Singles action for the Eagles was highlighted by the efforts of the #46 singles player in Division II women's action, Resende, who was handed the victory over her Pioneers foe after securing the first set 6-1 before her opponent retired, giving Resende her 10th win in SAC singles. Overall this year, the Brazil native is 13-4 and 10-1 in SAC singles to lead the team in both categories. If Resende wins one more singles match in 2021, she will set a new career high with 14 single-season victories. Currently, she is tied with her 2019 singles record of 13-4 ahead of the Eagles' regular season finale on Saturday.
As an Eagle, Resende is 33-10 all-time while playing number one singles and holds a 22-19 career record in doubles as she has played most of her matches as part of the number one doubles pair with one match of her career coming from number three (2020).
Sophomore Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom) was unable to move herself and senior Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) into a tie for most single-season doubles victories, but singles action saw a different outcome. In her match from number four singles, the UK native won 6-4, 6-3 which moves her to 7-4 against SAC opponents and 10-6 overall for the 2021 season. In doubles, the duo of Forrest and Price has compiled a 14-3 record with one more regular season chance to match Patricia Guerrerio and Jennifer Ott's record of 15-2 from 2015.
In a year like no other, C-N continued to see their trio of freshman push toward success as they start their Eagles career. In the match against Tusculum, two of the three freshman claimed another SAC victory. Reeves, who did not compete on Tuesday due to not having an opponent, came out strong in her match and never looked back. The UK native moved to 5-5 in SAC singles action with a 7-5, 6-2 result on Friday. Reeves has begun her Eagles career with a 9-7 overall singles record and an overall doubles record of 10-5 alongside Speiser.
Speiser was the fourth and final Eagle to win in singles action. Speiser moved to 8-7 overall in her first year at C-N with a 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 (10-8) victory against Tusculum as the number six singles competitor. So far this season, Speiser has played matches in both the number five and number six singles slot, as she is 2-0 from number five and 6-7 from number six.
With their 5-2 win, C-N ended an 11-match win streak by Tusculum in the series. The last time C-N was victorious over Tusculum in any match fashion was on May 7, 2009 at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional in Savannah, Ga. When looking solely at SAC matchups, the Eagles had not beaten their East Tennessee foe in 11 straight matches, more specifically since March 26, 2008.
The Eagles will return in action for their regular season finale as they travel to battle the Catawba Indians on Saturday. So far this season, the Indians are 5-9 overall and 2-9 in SAC matches. In the last matchup between the two, Catawba claimed a 5-2 victory on March 30, 2019 from Salisbury, N.C. Before the loss, C-N had won four straight as they currently hold a series lead of 6-4. When playing in Salisbury, C-N is 2-3 overall as their last win on the road came in March of 2017 when the Eagles were 8-1 victors.
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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