3-1 Eagles will host their first matches on campus, welcoming Middle Georgia State and #25 Lee to town
The Eagles have an opportunity to incite some revenge from Fall ITA’s and take down a ranked opponent.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Eagles have an opportunity to carry momentum from Fall ITA's and take down a ranked opponent.
The Eagles Women's Tennis team plays Middle Georgia State on Friday morning. In a match that was initially scheduled for Saturday, the Knights and Eagles rescheduled to push the bout up a day to avoid potential weather this weekend.
C-N is 3-1 on the season and is coming off three strong wins over Montreat, King, and Young Harris. In two of those three matches, the Eagles ended early, taking 4-0 victories. Young Harris pushed the Eagles to a 4-3 score, but C-N would prevail.
Senior captain Hala Awad has been rolling through the first part of the season. As one of the SAC's preseason players to watch, the Egyptian is 2-0 in her singles matches and undefeated in doubles when coupled with Kerrigan Spiers.
Middle Georgia is 1-1 in their matches this season with a 2-5 loss to Valdosta State and 7-0 win over Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. In the match against Valdosta, the Knights won the doubles point. Only one pair from MGSU fell in a tiebreaker. It will be crucial for C-N to compete in doubles to be successful.
The only singles match the Knights won in that match was at first singles. The #16 ranked player in the Southeast region Ainhoa Meili Fernandez del Moral defeated Valdosta's #1. For comparison, Maria del Mar Sarda Marti is ranked #14 in the region.
In the fall, Kira Baacke and Maria de Mar Sarda Marti defeated Yana Prihach and Tamanna Takoria in the semifinals of the B-flight doubles bracket and would eventually win the championship at the ITA Fall Regional. That particular pair has not yet played in a regular-season match, but MGSU has won the doubles point in each of their matches.
In that same tournament, Belen Blasco was defeated in the B-flight round of 16 by Agustina Olivero. She went on to lose in the next round to a player from the University of North Georgia. In the same flight, Prihach made it into the quarterfinal round, but no further.
Meili Fernandez and Olivero are currently the #10 doubles team in the Southeast Region according to the ITA's rankings.
This will be the first all-time meeting between the Knights and Eagles.
Over to the out-of-region match with the #25 Lee Flames. Lee is 1-0 on the season after a 7-0 victory against King. The Lady Flames have played a few exhibition matches that have not counted toward their record, falling 0-7 to both UT-Chattanooga and Jacksonville State (both Divison I programs), plus a 7-0 victory over Wallace State Community College – Hanceville.
Lee has two players ranked regionally in the ITA's South Regional Singles standings; Rima Yoshida is #9, and Aliyah Dwyer is #16. Lee does not have doubles team in the top 10 of the South region.
Carson-Newman is 5-6 in the all-time series with the Lady Flames. The Eagles have lost the last three matches in a row to Lee, with their last win coming in February of 2014. The Eagles are 2-2 in the all-time series at home against Lee.
With the schedule change, the coaches and staff will continue to monitor the weather for Friday's match to determine time and location. Tentatively, the men will begin their match at 11:30, with the women to follow no earlier than 1:30. For updates, follow @CN_Eagles on X and Instagram, or check cneagles.com for full coverage.
