Women’s Tennis stumbles in season opener to Cumberland
After falling in the doubles point, C-N two wins in the first and second singles slots before falling consecutively in the bottom half of the lineup in the season opener for the women’s squad.
HARROGATE, Tenn. – After falling in the doubles point, C-N two wins in the first and second singles slots before falling consecutively in the bottom half of the lineup in the season opener for the women's squad.
C-N travelled to Harrogate for their opening bout Saturday afternoon against the University of the Cumberlands and fell 2-6. The Eagles fell short in their doubles matches, but turned things around early in singles. Ultimately, the bottom half of the lineup would fall in order for the Eagles.
"For our first match of the year, a lot of the girls were in midseason form," coach Nate Gangelhoff said. "Our experienced players were clutch when it needed to happen. Now we need that for our younger players and to bring it over to doubles as well."
Hala Awad and Katarina DiNova opened the season at first doubles with a 6-4 loss to the Patriots' top pair. Sindija Manovska and Mar Fraile were slotted in at second doubles and fought to a similar mark but fell 6-3 in their opening match. Abinaya Sweeton and Andrea Aguiar were the final pair for the Eagles but were cut short in their match. At the time, they were down 5-4.
Things started to look up for the Eagles in singles. Senior captain and preseason SAC Player to Watch Hala Awad fought at first singles to pick up the first point for the women's team in 2026 and grab her first win of the season as well. The senior won the first set 6-2 before falling in set two 4-6. Awad would win the tiebreak 10-8. At this point in time, C-N was tied with the Patriots 1-1.
Manovska also took her match to a tiebreaker and persevered through the long match with a win in extra tiebreak points. The junior won the first set 6-3, fell in set two 0-6, but battled back with an 11-9 tiebreak win. With her first win of the season at second singles, the Eagles led the Patriots 2-1.
Sweeton and DiNova played in the third and fourth slots, respectively and took both their matches to tiebreakers as well. Sweeton was down 4-6 in set one, but fought to win set two 6-3. Her tiebreak would end swiftly at the 10-3 mark. DiNova's match also took extra tiebreak points to settle, but would ultimately end in a 6-0, 2-6, 12-14 loss. This put the Patriots up 3-2.
Freshman Sophia Caminiti played in the fifth slot and dropped her first match of her colligate career 5-7, 3-6 and Aguiar fell 6-7, 4-6 at six singles.
C-N returns to work next weekend when they host Montreat and King in back-to-back days at the Knoxville Raquet club February 13-14th and finishes their three matches straight with Young Harris on the 15th. For updates, follow @CN_Eagles on X and Instagram, or Carson-Newman Athletics on Facebook. Full coverage is also available at cneagles.com.
