SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's tennis team kicked off an important weekend of Liberty League play with a 7-2 victory over Ithaca College on Saturday afternoon at Sportime Tennis Club.
 
Junior Gracie Nicol and first-years Chara Meidani and Skylar Semon all were double winners for Union (5-4, 2-1 Liberty League), which saw seven players play a part in at least one victory on the day. The win is Union's first-ever victory against the Bombers.
 
Union started the day with a strong effort in doubles, sweeping all three matches to gain the early momentum. Semon and classmate Claire Langille started the day with an 8-2 win at third doubles against Eliana Chelnick and Sabrina Cheung, followed up by an 8-3 victory at the first flight for Nicol and senior Marilena Karadimou over Zoe Davis and Kayla Shenk.
 
The doubles highlight of the day came from Meidani and classmate Kennedy Alexis at the second flight, as the pair saved a combined seven match points before pulling out an 8-7 (9-7) victory. The pair were down 7-6 and facing 40-15 to Taylor Crain and Caroline Herz, but saved three match points and eventually secured a break to send the match to a tiebreaker. The tandem trailed 3-0 and 6-2 in the breaker, but fought back with four straight points and seven of the last eight to pull out the victory.
 
Taking that momentum into singles play, Union earned four more victories to finish off the afternoon. Sophomore Gabby Gatto earned a 6-0, 6-3 win over Chelnick at fourth singles to move Union closer to the victory, and Meidani did the honors soon after with a pair of 6-2 sets over Shenk at the third flight. Semon finished her unblemished day with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Herz at sixth singles, while Nicol did the same at second singles with a hard-fought pair of tiebreaker wins over Davis, 7-4 and 7-5.
 
Union will be back in action tomorrow with another key conference clash, taking on William Smith College beginning at 11 a.m. at Sportime Tennis Club.