C-N trying to break losing skid, hosting Shawnee State

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. -- Following a late week slate that saw the Eagles lose three-straight South Atlantic Conference matches, Carson-Newman now turns its attention to a midweek match against Shawnee State on Wednesday afternoon at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex.

A win on Wednesday would stop the Eagles (2-7, 0-3 SAC) from matching their longest losing streak of the season at four matches.

Carson-Newman opened its conference schedule in intense fashion but was not able to come up victorious against Lincoln Memorial, Newberry or No. 24 Wingate. The team was only able to achieve two wins out of the 27 total matches played in the stretch. One of the wins came at No. 6 singles spot thanks to Joseph Stiles (New Oxford, Pa.) with an 8-2 advantage against LMU on Thursday while the second win was picked up by to the No. 2 doubles duo of Gabriel Dabdab (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Jesus Bacete-Sanz (Madrid, Spain) with an 8-7 victory on Friday.

Senior Kevin Mendes (Chattanooga, Tenn.) made his first return to play in the match against LMU since he went down with an injury against Tennessee Wesleyan back on Feb. 20. While he did not take part in singles action in any of the three matches, he did team up with Rodolfo Schwarz at the top doubles position. The tandem was 0-3 on the week.

The Eagles have won just one match at the friendly confines of the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex this season, that coming against Bellarmine back on March 3 with an 8-1 victory.

Shawnee State (4-11) hails from the NAIA's Mid-South Conference. Last season, the Bears garnered a 3-11 record, going winless in all six conference matches. They finished last in the MSC standings.

Head coach Steven Boone is in his second season at the helm of the Bears' squad. His 10-man team has just three seniors leading the way in Matthew Bryant, CJ Burk and Tyler Sherwood.

This season, Shawnee State's four victories have come in mostly close outcomes as three of the four were decided by three points or less. The lone shutout victory for Boone's squad came on Sept. 22 against Ohio Christian University. In matches played away from Portsmouth, Ohio, the Bears have gone 1-7, the sole win in the column being the clean sheet victory over Ohio Christian.

The Bears make a trip to the University of the Cumberlands on Tuesday before heading to Mossy Creek. They currently hold a three-match losing streak heading into the back-to-back days of play.

Wednesday's match marks the first-ever meeting between the two teams.

The midweek faceoff between the Eagles and the visiting Bears is slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex. A full recap and results will follow on cneagles.com.