MOVIN' ON! #43 COBRAS DEFEAT #46 EAGLES IN SAC QUARTERFINALS

Sumter, SC - Down 1-3 in the team score and the odds stacked against them, Coker Women's Tennis does it again! They won a 4-3 match that came down to Court 3 in a three-setter, with Emerson Banning clinching the nailbiting win over the Eagles of Carson-Newman.

By The Numbers

Final Score: #43 Coker 4, #46 Carson-Newman 3
Records: #43 Coker 14-6 (10-3 SAC), #46 Carson-Newman 13-6 (9-4 SAC)
Location: Sumter, SC | Palmetto Tennis Center

Full Results

Doubles:

Jade Bellegy / Emerson Banning: 7-5 win
Tamara Macias / Ilona Hernandez-Sanchez: 4-6 loss
Caroline Myers / Salomé Sierra: 4-6 loss

Singles:

Bellegy: 7-6 (9), 6-1 win
Hernandez-Sanchez: 2-6, 3-6 loss
Banning: 5-7, 6-0, 7-6 (0)
Sierra: 6-2, 6-4 win
Macias: 1-6, 3-6 loss
Myers: 6-3, 6-2 win

How It Happened

It was a tight-knit doubles point to open up play this morning. The Eagles took Court 2 before Bellegy and Banning secured the win on Court 1 to even things up. Unfortunately, it was a loss on Court 3 that wrapped it up and gave Carson-Newman the doubles point and a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

The start of singles was again in the Eagles' favor, winning two (Courts 2 and 5) of the first three singles courts to take the 3-1 lead over the Cobras. That lone point came from Myers, who won in dominant straight sets on Court 6. That left it down to Courts 1, 3, and 4, with the Cobras needing to win all of them.

Down in the count, the Cobras started to pick up momentum. First, Sierra walked off on Court 4 with a straight-sets win, pulling the Cobras back to within a point at 3-2. Then, Bellegy won an absolutely incredible first set, fighting to tie it at 6-6 and winning the set tiebreak by an elongated 11-9 scoreline. She used that momentum to roll to a 6-1 dominant second set, tying up the team score at 3-3 and leaving it all up to Court 3.

Banning lost a tight 7-5 set in the first, but truly came alive in the second to get a bagel (6-0) to send this one to a third set. She started off hot, jumping out to a 5-2 lead and looking to have this one in the bag. However, her opponent had some fight left in her and clawed back. All of a sudden, Banning found herself down a break 6-5. With the tide flipped on its head, Banning decided to flip it right back. She won the last game at 40-15, then swept her opponent in the tiebreak 7-0. Her winning 11 of the last 12 points allowed the Cobras to take the 4-3 victory over the Eagles!

Notables

• This is the first-ever conference quarterfinal match-up that the Cobras have won in program history. The last time they qualified for a conference tournament was the Spring 2016 season.
• Three Cobras were honored today at the tournament following the conclusion of the match. Bellegy (singles and doubles) and Banning (doubles) were honored with All-SAC First-Team designations, while Hernandez-Sanchez was named the SAC Freshman of the Year!

Up Next

With a win today and Catawba winning their first-round match against Lincoln Memorial, the two teams will square off in the semifinals. That match will be held at 9:00 AM ET tomorrow, same as today.