NEWBERRY, S.C. – For only the second time in conference play this spring, no. 27 Carson-Newman women's tennis (13-4, 7-2 SAC) would be bested by a SAC foe, falling to #19 Newberry Friday. As the Eagles looked to keep pace with the top programs in SAC women's tennis, they were mere points away from pulling the upset, but would fall 4-3 and now hold two conference losses in the spring.
"Girls were literally one point away from winning the match," graduate coach Gabriel Dabdab said.
The Orange and Blue would get Friday's action started off strong as they took the doubles point after winning at both number two and three flights.
The Eagles would see number three doubles consist of Violetta Khisamova (Yaroslavl, Russia) and Julia Spesier, who pulled off a 7-5 victory and got the program rolling.
Then, in number two doubles, senior Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) and sophomore Summer Reeves would get the doubles point for the Eagles after winning 6-2.
In number one action, Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) and junior Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom), would be the lone Eagles pairing to falter as they were bested 3-6 by their opponents.
"After winning the doubles point, Ana Carla was a set up, Summer had her chances, and Hannah had a match point," Dabdab said. "However, all credit to Newberry, who is also a great team and is nationally ranked pretty high."
Then, in singles action, only Natasha Forrest and Anita Chornei (Kyviv, Ukraine) who gathered individual wins as numbers one, two, three, and four all fell to the home program en route to a near-margin win.
Forrest, playing her usual number five position, was tasked with another three-set thriller for her spring as she would gain the first set 6-1. Then, her Wolves opponent would win the second set 6-4 to set up a decisive third set. Once the third set commenced, Forrest made sure to keep her winning ways alive with a 6-2 decision, moving to 13-4 in 2022 along with 8-1 amongst SAC play.
Then, in number six singles, Anita Chornei would also see a three set match take place. Unlike her fellow junior teammate (Forrest), Chornei faced an early deficit after falling in set one 7-6. However, the Eagles veteran did not waver as she came back to clinch the match with a 6-4 decision in set two before taking a 10-8 result in set three to give C-N their second point on the day.
Chornei moves to 13-3 overall in 2022 and is 7-1 against SAC competition.
The Orange and Blue would see two more three setters, despite both being eventual losses. First, #37 Ana Carla Resende was in her typical number one flight position against Newberry's Natassia Chamoun. Resende would be the set one winner by a near 7-6 margin. However, sets two and three would quite unusual as the Brazil native did not win a single game, losing 6-0 in both sets. This is only Resende's second SAC loss of the spring.
The other three set decision came by the efforts of another C-N veteran in graduate student Hannah Price, active at the number four position. She, like Resende, would win the first set of her match by a score of 6-4. However, the next two sets seemed to truly test the Knoxville native as she fell 6-7 in set two before falling 3-6 in the decisive set three.
The other two match results were Summer Reeves falling at number two singles by a final of 6-4, 7-6 to #16 Zulay Castaneda of Newberry and Violetta Khisamova seeing a 6-4, 6-4 loss at number three singles.
"This one hurts because we know that we could win and climb higher in the rankings," Dabdab said. "But there's no time to be sad as we face the best team in conference so far tomorrow."
The Eagles remain on the road as the SAC season rolls on with a top-15 opponent awaiting the Orange and Blue on Saturday. C-N will make the trip to the Queen City of Charlotte as they face off with #12 Queens (N.C.), a team who stands atop the SAC standings, with first serve at 3:00 p.m.
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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