Spiers shines in regional loss to Middle Georgia State
In the opening day of tennis for the courts at Carson-Newman University, women’s tennis falls 1-4 to MGA.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In the opening day of tennis for the courts at Carson-Newman University, women's tennis falls 1-4 to MGA.
"We had to make some adjustments, and even doing so, there were moments that I was looking around thinking, 'I know we can win,'" said head coach Nate Gangelhoff.
It was a great effort from the Eagles, who fought in multiple tight sets throughout the match. C-N narrowly dropped the doubles point, but struggled in singles. The Eagles' lone point on the match came from a win at third singles from Kerrigan Spiers.
Spiers was the Eagles bright spot throughout the day. The sophomore paired up with Hala Awad at second doubles and the two made quick work of the Knights. Spiers and Awad are undefeated in doubles this season at 3-0 and took a 6-1 victory over MGA.
Spiers stayed red hot into singles. In her first singles match of the year, she lined up on court three against Middle Georgia's Lucile Gence. Spiers took care of business with a victory in straight sets, only giving up two games.
In the remaining doubles matches, the Eagles fought hard. Mar Fraile and Leah McBride were tasked with the number one doubles spot, and lived u to the challenge. The two Eagles fought all the way to a tiebreaker and would end up dropping the match 6-7 (2-7 in the tiebreaker). Maria del Mar Sarda Marti and Sindija Manovska were also clawing at a doubles victory, but fell 4-6.
"We just came up short by a little in doubles and couldn't carry enough focus or momentum in singles. We need a little extra fight to get us where we want to be,' said Gangelhoff.
The Eagles took games off the Knights in singles, but couldn't find wins in the lineup. Manovska fell 2-6 at fourth singles, while Leah McBride dropped her match at fifth singles 2-6, 3-6. Fraile lost set one 3-6 and nearly had set two. She ultimately fell 5-7.
Hala Awad was on her way to what might have been a great comeback. She was down after losing set one at first singles 1-6, but took set two 6-2. Her third set was tied at 2 games each when the Knights clinched.
Mar Sarda Marti won set one in her match at second singles 6-2, fell in set two 3-6 and was up 4-0 in the tiebreak.
This was the first time that the Eagles and Knights had faced each other in regular-season play. Thus, C-N dropped to 0-1 in the all-time series. Overall, C-N is 3-2, and with this loss snaps a three-match win streak.
Carson-Newman will have four days before they host #24 Lee at the Carson-Newman University Tennis Courts on Tuesday, February 24th at 2:00 PM. For updates, follow @CN_Eagles on X and Instagram, or check cneagles.com for full coverage.
