LAWRENCEVILLE, GA – Freshman Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) of the Carson-Newman women's tennis team advanced to the semifinals of the Georgia Gwinnett Invitational before losing to second-seeded Madeline Bosnjak of Georgia Gwinnett 6-4, 6-0.
"Her opponent was the two seed and she was just as steady as Ana Carla but bigger and stronger so Ana had no way of hurting her," Carson-Newman coach Jim Frederick said. "She said it's the best she's played in the fall and that's true."
Resende won her first match in the "A" singles draw over Emilie Hansen of South Atlantic Conference rival Tusculum before winning her second and third-round matches by identical dominant scores, 6-3, 6-0 both times.
"She just did what she had to do," Frederick said. "She didn't play great but didn't have to. Her average is better than most people's great."
Alisa Liashova (Ukraine), Hannah Price (Knoxville, TN) and Abby Reis (Des Moines, Iowa) were all downed in their opening match.
Klara Vuckovic (Germany) was the second seed in the women's "B" singles draw so she cruised through a bye in the opening round. She then won two consecutive matches 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-3 but was unable to play her semifinals match because the final day of the contest was rained out due to heavy downpours in the area.
Despite Vuckovic's success, Frederick still sees improvements to be made.
"Let's say she hit 100 shots per match," Frederick said. "I want her to be free-swinging on 99 of them and she's free-swinging on 50 of them. That's better than the 25 than she did a month ago so you look at her in practice and see how loose and relaxed she is and how free-swinging she is and in match play, she's still holding it back. She's getting better at it."
In doubles play, Resende and Price won their first match 6-2 but were unable to advance due to the rain.
Liashova and Vuckovic teamed up but were taken down in their opening round match.
In consolation play, Reis won her first-round match by default but then lost in a third-set tiebreaker in the following contest.
"She's got to keep more balls in the court, she just beats herself," Frederick said. "We've been working on a new forehand that will keep more spin on the ball. She's sticking with it and I'm proud of her for sticking with it."
Liashova and Price lost their first-round consolation matches.
The team will next travel to Tyson Tennis Center in Knoxville, TN for the Eagle Invitational on Oct. 26th and 27th.
Be sure to keep up with the Carson-Newman women's tennis team all across C-N's social media platforms and on cneagles.com.
