Resende, Forrest, and Price tabbed with All-SAC honors
A trio of Carson-Newman women’s tennis athletes have been recognized for their on-court efforts with All-SAC honors following the 2021 regular season competition as announced by the South Atlantic Conference Wednesday.
ROCK HILL, S.C. – A trio of Carson-Newman women's tennis athletes have been recognized for their on-court efforts with All-SAC honors following the 2021 regular season competition as announced by the South Atlantic Conference Wednesday. Junior Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) was awarded a spot on the All-SAC first team singles squad for the second time in her Eagles career (first time being in 2019). Meanwhile, sophomore Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom) and senior Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) were named to the All-SAC second-team doubles team.
Resende has primarily been the number one singles player for C-N during her three years as an Eagle. In 2021, she was able to compile a 11-1 SAC record, with her lone loss coming to Wingate on March 27. The loss was a back-and-forth battle which saw the final tally fall 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 in favor of fellow first-team All-SAC member Elena Bompieri of Wingate.
Overall, Resende finished the regular season 14-4 including wins over Belmont Abbey, University of North Georgia, and Young Harris. With her 14-4 mark, Resende was the team leader in singles wins while also moving herself to a 34-10 career record in singles. Her 34 wins place her with the fifth-most singles wins for an Eagle career.
Joining Resende on the All-SAC first team singles squad is Yana Fleyer of Queens, Annie McCullough of Tusculum, Gemma Southwick of Lenoir-Rhyne, Bompieri of Wingate, and Elena Gunfaus of Wingate. Fleyer was also named the 2021 SAC Player of the Year.
When matched up with the other first-team selections, Resende went 2-1 in those matches with wins over Fleyer and Southwick while dropping the pre-mentioned three-set thriller to Bompieri.
"She is a special athlete and deserves this honor," head coach Jim Frederick said. "If she hadn't lost to Wingate, I think she would have had a great chance to be named the Player of the Year."
The pairing of Forrest and Price were almost unstoppable in doubles action throughout the 2021 season. As they head into the 2021 SAC Women's Tennis Tournament, the duo sit at 15-3 overall with a 10-2 mark versus SAC opponents. Their two losses came against Anderson on March 9 and Tusculum on April 8. This is the first All-SAC doubles honor for an Eagle pairing since 2018 when Jill Corsato-Owsianka and senior Abby Reis (Des Moines, Iowa) were named Honorable Mention doubles.
Forrest and Price played every match in 2021 from the number two doubles spot, and in the process, tied the single-season program record for doubles wins with 15. This ties them with Patricia Guerrerio and Jennifer Ott's record in 2015 of 15-3. Forrest and Price also have seen themselves currently sitting with the second-best single-season doubles winning percentage at 0.833 which is only behind Guerrerio who held a 0.882 winning percentage during the 2015 season.
Forrest and Price are joined on the All-SAC second team by Caity Klaassen and Viktorija Veselinova of Queens and the pairing of Emilie Hansen and Amber Lackey of Tusculum.
Resende, Price, and Forrest along with the rest of the Carson-Newman women's tennis team will be action against Limestone on Thursday as they begin the 2021 SAC Women's Tennis Tournament from Sumter, S.C. First serve between the Saints and Eagles is slated to begin at 9 a.m.
Be sure to follow all things Carson-Newman women's tennis at cneagles.com and via all social media accounts.
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