ITHACA, N.Y. – The ITA #42 and fourth-seeded Union College women's tennis team reached the semifinals of the Liberty League Tournament for the second straight season with a hard-fought 4-2 victory over fifth-seeded and ITA #36 St. Lawrence University on Friday morning at Cornell University's Reis Tennis Center.
The win advances Union (13-6) into the Liberty League semifinals for the second year in a row, where the Garnet Chargers will face off with top-seeded and ITA #34 Skidmore College tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. in Ithaca.
Just as happened in the team's regular-season meeting, Union came up short in doubles play to start the day, but responded with an excellent effort on the singles court to pull out the win.
Junior
Sydney Alphabet set the tone at the fifth flight, storming back from 2-4 down in the first set to win the final four games and then run off six in a row in the second set for a convincing 6-4, 6-0 victory over Ellie Fritz. First-year
Calista Finkelstein followed up with a win in her sixth-singles match against Maya Stepic, earning a break at 6-5 to take the opening set and then winning five of the first seven games of the second set on the way to a 7-5, 6-3 win.
After St. Lawrence (16-5) evened the match with a win at second singles, Union battled through a pair of tough matches to finish off the win. First-year
Samantha Jacobs came back from 2-4 down in the first set to win 6-4 over Elisa Iuri, and also finished strong in the second by winning four of the last five games to finish off a 6-2 frame in third-singles action. Junior
Chara Meidani provided the clinching point at the top flight, breaking Angelica Aksdal-Jansen at 6-5 to take the first set and then jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the second set before holding on for a 6-3 win.
The victory, which extends Union's program-record single-season wins total to 13, moves the Garnet Chargers into the semifinals for only the sixth time in program history and marks just the second time (1998-99) that the team has advanced out of the first round in consecutive seasons.
