SEWANEE, Tenn. – In their first true road trip of the 2022 spring season, Carson-Newman women's tennis (2-2, 0-0 SAC) faced off with the Sewanee Tigers (1-0, 0-0 SAA) of Division III Thursday.
As the Eagles and Tigers squared off from the Bruton-Guerry Tennis Center, it would be the home program taking a 6-3 win as the Tigers were treating Thursday as an exhibition against C-N.
Meeting note: Division III is the only rank left in all NCAA divisions that uses all nine points in a match instead of doubles counting as one point
In the last meeting prior to Tuesday, the Eagles and Tigers last squared off in February 2019 when C-N would end the day as 6-3 victors over the nationally-ranked Tigers. The Eagles jumped ahead 2-1 in doubles as they won from both number one and number two positions. In the two victories, Ana Carla Resende and Ali Harris won from number one doubles while Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Abby Reis took the win from number two doubles.
On the singles side of competition, there were no three-set matches but definitely a few sets that were tight as the Eagles only dropped matches at No. 2 and No. 6.
Flashing forward to Tuesday, Thursday started with the home team Tigers taking two out of the three doubles matches and starting off the day going up 2-0.
First, the duo of Violetta Khisamova (Yaroslavl, Russia) and Julia Speiser saw the lone C-N doubles win as they almost clear swept Nicole Nowak/Sarah Livingston of Sewanee by a score of 8-2 from number three doubles.
For the second straight match, it would be Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) taking to the courts in number two doubles alongside Summer Reeves (Maidstone, Kent, England). The duo would fight valiantly, but it was Ansley Carpenter/Nat Nassar taking an 8-5 victory for the Tigers.
Finally, graduate student Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom) were in action as the number one singles pairing for C-N. After starting off strong in 2022, Price and Forrest encountered a small setback as they were defeated 8-7 (5) by the pair of Alice Hall/Brooke Despriet of Sewanee.
As singles play started, the Eagles worked to gain back the match momentum as they started off with number one, two, and three singles before the other three matches took place.
First, Ana Carla Resende started off with a dominant first set victory, 6-1, as she played once more from her usual number one singles placement. However, in the second set, Sewanee's Despriet would come back as she took a 6-2 result and forced a decisive third set between the two. Once the third set commenced, it would be C-N gathering their first match point as Resende took the third set by a final of 10-7.
The other Eagle to gain a singles victory was Summer Reeves as she played singles for the first time this spring, as she was in action from number five singles. After fighting through a 6-4 first set victory, Reeves looked to close it out but saw almost a similar result in the second set. The final score of the second set would be 7-6 as Reeves claimed the win and pushed C-N's point total to two.
Then, Violetta Khisamova looked to build upon a solid outing last week as she was in number two singles Thursday. The sophomore would fall behind after a 6-2 first set victory by her Tigers opponent. Khisamova could not rebound as the Tigers gathered another victory as Hall swept the number two singles matchup, winning 6-4 in the second set.
In number three singles, the hottest Eagles thus far in 2022, Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom) moved up one spot from her usual number four singles action. The first set for Forrest would see her opponent, Smith, take the early advantage behind a 6-3 result. However, Forrest responded quite well as she won the second set, 6-3, to force a decisive third set.
Once the third set started, both athletes continued going back-and-forth as they looked to gather another valuable point for their team. In the end, Sewanee gathered the 10-7 third set result from Smith as they moved to three points in Thursday's match.
Then, in number four singles, Hannah Price would have to battle in singles, but her effort on Thursday fell just short as she would fall in a two-set sweep, 6-0, 6-3, in favor of Sewanee's Carpenter.
Finally, in perhaps the wildest match of the day, Anita Chornei competed from number six singles as the match against Sewanee's Nassar saw the two battle to a pair of tiebreakers in both the first and second setl. The first set was tightly contested as it would end 7-6 (9-7) for Sewanee's Nassar's favor.
However, Chornei worked to respond and take the second set as she was ahead 5-3 before her opposition stormed back to take a 6-5 lead. Once it was all said and done in the second set, Nassar took the win by winning the second set, 7-6 (7-3). This finalized Sewanee's win as the final score read 6-3.
The Eagles now turn right back around as they welcome in the UT-Martin Skyhawks for a Saturday matinee. C-N and Skyhawks will take to the courts of the Cedar Bluff Racquet Club for first serve scheduled at 3:00 p.m. Saturday.
Be sure to keep up with all things Carson-Newman tennis at cneagles.com and on all social media.
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