KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – It was finally time for Carson-Newman women's tennis (0-1, 0-0 SAC) to see their first action in 2022, as the Eagles took to the courts against a perennial Division II program, number 18 ranked North Georgia.
The last time Carson-Newman faced off with North Georgia came last March as it would be UNG defending home courts and taking a 5-2 victory. Carson-Newman would take the valuable doubles point behind two strong 6-3 victories. The only other victory on that day for C-N came by way of senior Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) taking home a three-set victory before the Eagles would drop the remaining five decisions.
Sunday started off with the Eagles getting the best of the Nighthawks (1-0, 0-0 PBC) as they took an early advantage as they won two of the three doubles matches. The day did not start off how C-N intended as the number six doubles pair in the Southeast region, graduate student Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) and junior Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom), would falter against their UNG foes. The number seven ranked doubles pairing of UNG's Jorge/Lippert took home a 6-2 victory over C-N.
"Doubles for the women were very strong and Maria was able to fully step in and replace Summer for the day," graduate coach Gabriel Dabdab said.
However, the feeling of defeat was not long lasting as C-N took over in the other two matches in order to capture an early advantage. First, senior Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) and freshman Maria Ulloa (Cuba) paired up to take on UNG's Markvartova/Villanueva. In a closely contested match, C-N took the 6-4 result as it would all come down to number three doubles to decide the advantage.
This is where C-N stepped up once more and saw Violetta Khisamova (Yaroslavl, Russia) and Julia Speiser give early momentum to the Eagles. The duo would battle back-and-forth, ultimately taking home a 7-5 victory and giving C-N the doubles point.
Then, in singles action, Natasha Forrest, got the only other C-N point from Sunday's action. She would be in action from the number four singles position as she would finish first out of all matches, taking the 6-3, 6-0 result and giving C-N the 2-0 advantage.
"Playing one spot above her original position, Tash played some great tennis and absolutely dominated her opponent from beginning to end," Dabdab said.
However, from there, the Nighthawks stormed back and never let up as they scored the final match points of the day to take the final 5-2 victory. Their first step back came from nationally-ranked Vaishali Jorge, the 37th-ranked women's singles player, taking on C-N's Khisamova. Jorge was utterly dominant in the first set, winning 6-1, but Khisamova fought back in the second set. However, it was not enough as UNG won the second set 7-5 and got on the scoreboard.
Then, it was the battle of wits taking place from number one singles as C-N's Ana Carla Resende took on UNG's Markvartova. Resende came into Sunday as the number eight ranked women's single player and number two singles player in the Southeast region. However, Sunday was all about her opponent as Markvartova pulled the massive upset and a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
All but one other singles match between CNWT and UNGW ended in the minimum amount of sets, as number six singles took all three sets. In number six singles, C-N's Julia Speiser went tick for tat with UNG's Labonte Frey. Speiser started off taking the first set 6-3, but Labonte Frey responded in a massive manner as she came back to win the second set, 6-4, before gaining the overall victory with a 6-3 decision in the third and final set.
"Anita and Julia had very close battles that could have gone both ways. Think this girls team can take a lot from this result and will be ready for what is coming up," Dabdab said.
The Eagles return to action later this week as they will head to Harrogate Friday for a neutral site matchup against the Young Harris Mountain Lions before going back to Knoxville Saturday for a square off with the Lees-McRae Bobcats from the Knoxville Racquet Club.
The Eagles and Mountain Lions start off at 1:00 p.m. Friday while C-N and the Bobcats hold first serve at 2:00 p.m. Saturday.
Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman women's tennis at cneagles.com and on all social media.
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