WINGATE, N.C.- Carson-Newman women's tennis wrap up their time at the Wingate Invitational with some impressive efforts in singles and doubles. Freshman Maria Ulloa in singles along with the duo of Hannah Price and Natasha Forrest highlight the two-day event appearance for Carson-Newman.
The highlight for Carson-Newman came from freshman Maria Ulloa (Cuba) as she racked her third straight victory for the Eagles and finished her first fall tournament as the women's "orange" East finals winner. Sunday saw Ulloa battle Elizabeth Vollmin in the East finals, as the Eagle won in straight sets 6-4, 6-1.
"Definitely a very profitable weekend. The level of competition was great and all of them, no exception, did what was asked them to do in order to be competitive," graduate assistant Gabriel Dabdab said. "A shout out to the team spirit presented by Violetta Khisamova and Ana Carla Resende as well."
The freshman started her fall tournament appearance with victories over Yaritza Gonzalez and Charisma Nuqui on Saturday before appearing on Sunday in the East finals.
In Sunday doubles action, it was the duo of graduate student Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) and junior Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom) claiming a victory in the women's "blue" doubles East finals. The duo wrapped up their two days of action with a matchup against Pandurevic and Nuqui, winning 6-1 in the East finals.
This came after the duo defeated Aranyos and Hendricks in the first round Saturday before claiming a walk-over victory against Gunfaus and Ciaccia in the semifinals on Saturday.
Wrapping up her first fall tournament appearance for the Eagles, sophomore Julia Speiser saw action in the women's "purple" singles East finals against Saga Berggren Sunday. She fought for every point, but it was Berggren taking the victory with a 6-4, 3-6 (10-3) result.
Speiser was able to capture two victories to start her fall season on Saturday as she defeated Daniella Galeano and Lauren Laughton to set up her place in the East finals for the women's "purple" singles draw.
In other doubles action, the pairing of Speiser and Reeves made an appearance in the women's "red" doubles East finals on Sunday. The duo went up against Morse and Vollmin as it was the opposition claiming the victory with a 6-0 result.
However, Speiser and Reeves did claim two victories to start the fall on Saturday over Macias and Drake before defeating Galeano and Socarras.
In a battle of Eagle versus Eagle in singles action, it was sophomore Summer Reeves (Maidstone, Kent, England) facing off against her junior teammate Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom) in the women's "red" West finals Sunday. In the matchup much anticipated by CNWT fans, it was the sophomore taking a 4-6, 6-2 (10-7) result over her junior peer.
Reeves was placed in the "red" draw West finals after seeing a loss to Veronika Poliakova on Saturday morning. From there, Reeves battled Tamara Macias in the West semifinals on Saturday afternoon, winning 6-0, 3-6 (10-7) to face Forrest.
Meanwhile, for Forrest, it was a matchup against Alex Lopez Saturday morning with Lopez winning 7-6 (4), 6-2. Forrest was then selected to face Marie Bertran de Balanda in the West semifinals Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, the two would not meet up as de Balanda was deemed injured, which gave Forrest a walkover win and a spot in the West finals.
Graduate student Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) started another year as an Eagle with some more success and a victory in the women's "green" singles draw 3-4 playoff on Sunday. Her opponent on Sunday was none other than Vicky Beardsley. In their matchup, it was Price claiming the 6-7 (5), 6-2 (10-6) result and another pivotal C-N result.
Price was in the position to win the "green" draw 3-4 playoff after taking a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Caitlin Klasseen on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, Price was defeated by Paola Socarras in the second round on Saturday in the East semifinals which put her into the "green" draw 3-4 playoff.
As she looked to wrap up her first action as a member of the CNWT program in two years, junior Anita Chornei (Kyiv, Ukraine) was in the women's "orange" singles 3-4 playoff against Charisma Nuqui on Sunday. Although she could not muster enough points to win, Chornei fought for every point as Nuqui won 7-6 (6), 4-6 (10-3).
On the positive side, Chornei was able to claim a victory on Saturday to start her return for C-N as she defeated Angelina Krieg before she was handed a loss by Elizabeth Vollmin.
Finally, the Eagles saw another valuable doubles match for the pairing of Ulloa and Chornei on Sunday. After losing on Saturday, the duo rebounded to claim a win over Halickman and Gagnon by a 6-4 result on Sunday to end on a high note.
"The whole team, whether active or on the sidelines, were supportive of their teammates and truly helped us be successful and compete this weekend," Dabdab said.
The Carson-Newman women's tennis program will be back in action in the ITA Regional Tournament from September 24 to 27th.
Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman women's tennis at cneagles.com and via all social media platforms.
