ITHACA, N.Y. – First-year
Calista Finkelstein came back from a set down to win the deciding match at sixth singles as the Union College women's tennis team climbed out of a 3-0 hole to earn a thrilling 4-3 victory over Ithaca College in Liberty League action on Saturday at Glazer Arena.
Union (8-3, 2-0 Liberty League) got off to a tough start on Saturday, dropping all three doubles matches and the top-two singles flights to put the team one match away from a loss. But the bottom of the lineup came up huge for the Garnet Chargers, as Union won all four matches to earn the huge comeback victory.
First-year
Samantha Jacobs started the comeback with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Sabrina Cheung at third singles.
Playing her first match in over a month, sophomore
Luisa Arizpe-Sierra came back for a crucial three-set win over Lauren Rodriguez at fourth singles, dropping the opening set 6-4 before coming back for 7-5, 6-2 wins in the final two sets. She jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second before pulling out a huge break of serve to take a 6-5 lead and holding serve to even the match. She closed out the third with three straight games to keep Union alive.
Starting after the first four singles matches had concluded, junior
Sydney Alphabet kept the momentum going with the second-quickest singles match of the day at the fifth flight, defeating Madeleine Sutro, 6-3, 6-4, to even the match at three.
Finkelstein and Ava Casell-Lapetina were the last match to start on the day and turned into a two-hour, 20-minute marathon that decided a winner. Things did not start well for Union, as Finkelstein lost the first five games and eventually dropped the first set by a 6-2 score. The second set was tied at five before the first-year won a deuce point to take a 6-5 lead and then came up with a huge break of serve to even the match and set it to a third. With the decisive set tied at three, Finkelstein held serve and added a break to take a 5-3 lead and, after Casell-Lapetina broke back to get back on serve at 4-5, Finkelstein won four-of-five points to finish off a 6-4 set and give Union a win.
Union will return to action tomorrow with another Liberty League matchup against William Smith College beginning at 10 a.m.
