Strong play highlights final day of action in Knoxville for Eagles
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The fall season came to an end for Carson-Newman women’s tennis as the Eagles saw day two of action in Knoxville.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The fall season came to an end for Carson-Newman women's tennis as the Eagles saw day two of action in Knoxville. The Eagles were able to see a trio of athletes claim overall flight victories as well as some quality doubles action from Tyson Park.
Saturday would see Carson-Newman and the other participating schools face off in two rounds of doubles action and one round of singles action.
The pairing of sophomore Violetta Khisamova (Yaroslavl, Russia) and senior Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) came into Saturday after winning their first doubles match against Balakhrishnan and Tiscornia from University of Charleston on Friday. Saturday's first match would be Resende/Khisamova versus Church/Hansen from Tusculum. The Eagles pairing pulled away early to win 6-1 and claim a spot in the women's doubles flight A finals.
Their opponent in the finals would be Kirr/Maiz from Lee University. The Flames were just too hot for C-N to overcome as they walked away the 6-2 winners and were named the flight A doubles winners.
Also in-flight A doubles, the pair of graduate student Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) and junior Natasha Forrest (Jersey, United Kingdom) were back in action after winning their first match on Friday. Their first opponents for Saturday would be the eventual champions of Kirr/Maiz from Lee University, as the Flames took the 7-6 (3) result and a spot in the flight A finals. This moved Price and Forrest to the flight A 3-4 playoff.
In the 3-4 playoff, it would be the Eagles going against Church/Hansen from Tusculum. Once again, the duo battled hard for every point but Price and Forrest could not muster enough points as their Pioneer opponents won 7-6 (3).
Sophomore Summer Reeves and freshman Maria Ulloa (Cuba) looked to rebound after losing their first matchup on Friday. The duo would go head-to-head with Baechler/Rossmeier from Tusculum to start off their day, winning 6-0 and advancing to the West finals of flight B. From there, it would be Reeves/Ulloa against Ragastovac/Wieser from Lee. Unfortunately for C-N, the Flames kept the fire going as they won 6-1 and took the West finals.
Shortly after, it would be the Eagles pairing of Anita Chornei (Kyviv, Ukraine) and Julia Speiser in flight C action for the first time. The duo would see action against Good and Smith from Lee University as well as Dong and Wilson from Young Harris. In their matchup with Good/Smith, Chornei/Speiser won 6-0. Then, they would go up against Dong/Wilson, as they won 6-2 and finished as the only undefeated flight C doubles pairing.
"Definitely a very profitable weekend. The level of competition was great and all of them, no exception, did what was asked them to do in order to be competitive," graduate assistant Gabriel Dabdab said.
In singles, graduate student Hannah Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) got the winning started for C-N as she took home the women's singles flight B after facing Elodie Baechler from Tusculum. Price had faced Baechler in previous competition, but this was the first time Price was able to sweep the match as she won 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday.
The next Eagle to win their individual flight would be freshman Maria Ulloa in flight D. Ullo won matches against opponents from the University of Charleston and Lee on Friday, but it would be another University of Charleston opposition in the flight finals. Ulloa was not phased as she won 6-2, 6-1 and took the flight.
Finally, junior Anita Chornei claimed her flight as she won the finals of flight E on Saturday. She would be up against Larissa Wieser of Lee in the finals, as Chornei seemed to not have any problems winning 6-1, 6-0 and winning her third straight singles match with the same scores.
Flight D also saw Julia Speiser claim the 3-4 playoff for singles as she defeated Hayden Smith of Lee, 6-3 7-5. Smith was the opponent from Lee which Maria Ulloa defeated on her way to the flight D finals.
Senior Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) was in the flight A women's singles final against Prinkle Singh from the University of Charleston. Sadly, it was Singh taking the victory as she won 6-4, 2-2 (ret.) as Ana Carla had to withdraw from action.
In flight C finals, Natasha Forrest went head-to-head with Leonie Floeth of Tusculum as well. After being able to win both singles matches on Friday, Forrest was not as lucky as Floeth took the overall flight victory by a score of 6-3, 6-3.
In flight B's West side of action, sophomore Violetta Khisamova saw action against Louise Ratiu from Young Harris. It would be Raitu taking the 4-6, 6-2 (10-6) victory over her Eagles opponent as both competitors wrapped up their singles portion of the two-day event.
"The whole team, whether active or on the sidelines, were supportive of their teammates and truly helped us be successful and compete this weekend," Dabdab said.
Carson-Newman women's tennis have now concluded the fall portion of their schedule and will start preparing for the spring season which is scheduled to start February 5 against Union (Ky.).
Be sure to keep up with the C-N women's tennis team all season long across Carson-Newman's social media platforms and on cneagles.com
