Eagles head to Knoxville to wrap up fall season
KNOXVILLE, TN – The fall season for Carson-Newman women's tennis as they prepare for the final fall event, the Eagle Invitational from Knoxville, Tenn.,
KNOXVILLE, TN – The fall season for Carson-Newman women's tennis as they prepare for the final fall event, the Eagle Invitational from Knoxville, Tenn., on Oct. 22nd and 23rd.
The tournament will pit the Eagles against Tusculum, Lee, Young Harris, and University of Charleston. The tournament will consist of four separate eight-person draws for both the men and women. Each player will take part in two singles and one doubles match on the first day while participants will play two doubles and one singles match the following day.
The last time the entire Carson-Newman women's tennis program was in action came at the Enchanted Valley Showdown from the campus of Young Harris on October 9 and 10. At the event, the Eagles finished the two days of action 17-4 across both doubles and singles.
"The girls had a good weekend as well. Even though we have some work to do, doubles were significantly better this weekend than last tournament," graduate assistant Gabriel Dabdab said.
Graduate student Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) and junior Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom) once again led the way for C-N in doubles as they were able to win all three matches they saw from the Peach State.
In singles, freshman Maria Ulloa (Cuba) has been strong in her fall debut as an Eagle, compiling a 6-0 record including a perfect 3-0 at the last event. She started off the event with a victory over Lee University's Lee 6-0, 6-3 before sweeping Sunday action against Breanu's Gouveia (6-1, 1-0) and Young Harris' Wilson (6-2, 6-2). So far this fall, Ulloa has compiled the second-best singles record for the team, behind senior standout Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil).
"A shoutout to the entire team, but especially Julia, Anita, and Maria who came out and gave us a strong and high level of tennis this weekend," Dabdab said.
Meanwhile, Ana Carla Resende has been on a tear this fall as she has not only led the team at the events with full participation but is also making her mark in the entirety of Division II women's tennis.
Her latest individual stop saw the Brazil native make it all the way to the 2021 ITA Cup semifinals for women's singles. After claiming an at-large selection with her runner-up finish at the 2021 ITA Southeast Regional Qualifiers from Sumter, S.C., Ana Carla quickly picked her momentum backup and won two straight from the Rome Tennis Center to make it to semifinals Saturday.
Khazan lived up to the hype of being number one overall seed as she took home the 6-1, 6-2 result. Both sets were controlled by Khazan in terms of momentum as she came out firing and proved why she is the number one overall seed and player in the nation.
She forced Ana Carla to change her playing style, but nothing could work and get past the tenacity of Khazan. The Brazil native proved her worth as a top four player in the nation as an ITA Cup semifinalist as she was only the third athlete to score in both sets against Khazan this season.
"We knew that it was going to be the toughest match so far. Ana tried different strategies within the match, but her opponent showed why she is #1 for a reason," Dabdab said. "Ana is an ITA Cup semifinalist which means she is in the top four players in the country, and we couldn't be more proud."
Ana Carla Resende was able to get to Saturday's slate of semifinals after defeating Anna Novikova from the University of Indianapolis 6-1, 6-2 on Friday. The Brazil native got her time in Rome started off with a 7-5, 6-1 victory on Thursday over Taylor Leslie from Dallas Baptist as both athletes came in as an at-large selection for the ITA Cup.
The Eagles look to end their fall season on a high note and continue their impressive outings from top to bottom before preparing for the 2022 spring season.
Action commences from Tyson Park in Knoxville for the Carson-Newman women's tennis program on Friday at 9:00 a.m.
Be sure to keep up with Carson-Newman women's tennis all season long on all of C-N's social media platforms and on cneagles.com.
