February 19, 2016

Wolves await Eagles for C-N's SAC lid-lifter

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—The Carson-Newman men's tennis team will look to pick up its first win of the young season in its South Atlantic Conference debut with a conquest to Newberry, S.C. to take on the Wolves at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—The Carson-Newman men's tennis team will look to pick up its first win of the young season in its South Atlantic Conference debut with a conquest to Newberry, S.C. to take on the Wolves at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

The match was originally slated as the first contest of the season for the Eagles but because of inclement weather, the match was pushed to Sunday.

Looking to rid themselves of the 7-2 defeat at the hands of Tennessee Wesleyan in its season, C-N (0-1, 0-0 SAC) will field a largely underclassmen prized roster against the Wolves (10-1, 3-0 SAC) but with four juniors and one senior in Juan Sebastian Perez (Ecuador) to lead the way.

Juniors Stefano Daza (Venezuela), Jerry Hughes (Shelbyville, Tenn.), Joao Pedro Oliveira (Brazil) and Lee Presson (Crossville, Tenn.) will link up with Perez to lead the team comprised of three freshman and three sophomores.

Taylor Barie (Woodstock, Ga.), Jordan Knott (Louisville, Ky.) and Kevin Mendes (Woodstock, Ga.) are back for their second year of play in the orange and blue, while Marc Bantel(Germany), Jesus Barcete (Spain) and Kyle Stills (Brownsville, Tenn.) will be making their second collegiate starts against Newberry on Sunday.

Daza and Barcete were the only Eagles to pick up wins for Carson-Newman against the Bulldogs from Tennessee Wesleyan.

Newberry hasn't missed a beat this year as the Wolves played in five matches during their fall slate. The lone loss of the season the Wolves have to date came against the No. 5 team in the nation in Lander 9-0 on Feb. 4.

The Wolves also welcome a heap of underclassmen to the 2016 roster as 10 freshman and sophomores will team up with senior Fernando Espana this season.

Despite a large amount of inexperience, Newberry does sport the All-SAC preseason duo of Espana and Ternando Tous in doubles after clinching 16 wins during the '15 season.

Sophomore Jordan Monosky was also tabbed to the All-SAC preseason team after accumulating 16 wins in singles play a season ago.

Sunday will mark the fourth SAC contest of the year for the Wolves. Newberry were winners over Cooker 5-4 last week to pick up its third conference win of the season.

The last time these two squads faced off, Carson-Newman was on the losing end of the 6-3 outcome that took place on March 28 of last year.

"We are in control of what we do," Love said. "It really doesn't matter who we play or when we play. We are going to play smart tennis, keep our emotions in check and do our thing. We are competitors and we are ready to get out there and play."

To keep up with everything Carson-Newman tennis related, follow us on twitter at @CNathletics. A full recap of the Eagles' first match of the season against Newberry can be found on cneagles.com following the match Wednesday evening.

-CN-