Eagles take flight to Sumter for ITA Southeast Regional Qualifiers
SUMTER, S.C. – Seven members of the Carson-Newman women's tennis team have been invited to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southeast Regional Qualifier in Sumter, South Carolina
VIDEO: Jim Frederick Previews ITA Southeast Regional Qualifier
SUMTER, S.C. – Seven members of the Carson-Newman women's tennis team have been invited to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southeast Regional Qualifier in Sumter, South Carolina from Friday, Sept. 24th to Monday, Sept. 27th.
Junior Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) and graduate student Hannah Price (Knoxville, TN) will make their return to the event after competing in it for C-N two years ago. When last competing at the event, Resende lost in the round of 64 as she was the 11th-ranked player in the region heading into the event. However, the Brazil native rebounded and defeated a pair of opponents in the consolation round.
Meanwhile, Price made her mark in the event after losing her opening match in the round of 128. She then rebounded to defeat the 58th-ranked player in the nation. She ended her time at the event with a loss in the consolation round to the 16th-seeded player in the tournament.
Resende currently sits as the 43rd-ranked player in all Division II women's tennis. Resende will be making her first appearance of the fall for C-N after supporting her teammates in competition at the Wingate Invitational a couple weeks ago.
"I think this team knows that we tell them to take every match one point at a time and we'll be happy with the result either way," head coach Jim Frederick said. "It's nice to have the returners back but the freshman have shined like we wanted them to so far and they can definitely help our team this year."
This will be the second fall event of the 2021 season for C-N as they wrapped up time at the Wingate Invitational a couple weekends ago. At the event, it was freshman Maria Ulloa (Cuba) in singles along with the duo of Price and junior Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom) highlighting the two-day event appearance for Carson-Newman.
In her first appearance as an Eagle, Ulloa racked up the overall victory in the women's "orange" draw East finals.
"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.
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.
Sophomore Julia Speiser made her first fall appearance for coach Frederick and the team as she battled to the women's "purple" East finals where she was unfortunately defeated. She did however claim two victories earlier in the event to gain some confidence heading into this weekend.
In a battle of Eagle versus Eagle in singles, 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 to wrap up their time at the event. 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.
Finally, the Carson-Newman women's tennis saw a familiar face return to the courts as an Eagle as junior Anita Chornei (Kyiv, Ukraine) made it all the way to the women's "orange" singles 3-4 playoff against Charisma Nuqui in Wingate. 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 started her return with a victory in her first match back.
"We normally only get three or four athletes for the ITAs, so getting seven athletes to qualify is pleasantly surprising for us," Frederick said. "The qualification comes from individual UTR and for us to have this many athletes qualify shows that our program is rising in the category and can compete."
Be sure to keep up with Carson-Newman women's tennis all across the Eagles' social media platforms.
