SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's tennis team started its 2025-26 season on Saturday with day one of the Union Invitational, held at both the Union Tennis Courts and Sportime Schenectady.
Seven of Union's eight entries earned at least one win on the day, led by sophomore
Calista Finkelstein with one singles and one doubles victory.
In the "A" Singles bracket, seniors
Skylar Semon and
Chara Meidani both won their quarterfinal-round matches, with Semon taking down Justine Stanejko of SUNY New Paltz by a 6-3, 6-4 score and Meidani getting past Ithaca College's Sabrina Cheung, 6-2, 6-4. Both competitors came up short in the semifinals, however, as Semon was dropped 6-4, 6-3 by St. Lawrence University's Molly Jespersen and Meidani came up a supertiebreaker short to Samantha Ostrander of New Paltz, 6-1, 2-6, (10-3).
Union earned one win in the "B" Singles bracket, as Finkelstein used a pair of 7-5 sets to knock off Ithaca's Aenessa Rylski. Finkelstein fell in the semifinals to Ariane Karera (SLU), 6-1, 6-3, while first-year
Megan McCusker also succumbed to a SLU player, Elisa Iuri, by a 2-6, 6-2, (10-6) score in the quarterfinals.
The "C" Singles bracket followed a similar script, with Union going 1-2 in three matches. Senior
Sydney Alphabet reached the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Ava Casell of Ithaca, but came up a supertiebreaker short in the semifinals to New Paltz's Lula Brown-Vann, 3-6, 7-5, (10-4). Classmate
Claire Langille lost a pair of 6-3 sets to Alexandra Krol of New Paltz in the quarterfinals as well.
Both Union entries advanced to the quarterfinals of the "D" Singles bracket after earning byes in the round of 16. Senior
Kennedy Alexis easily dispatched New Paltz's Nina Genzone, 6-1, 6-2, and first-year
Jenny Park outlasted Olivia Kunz of New Paltz in a 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) quarterfinal win.
The Garnet Chargers came up short in both "A" Doubles matches, as Alexis and Meidani dropped an 8-6 match to Kunz and Patrycja Filonik of New Paltz, and Langille and Semon fell by an 8-2 score to Cheung and Alys Pop of Ithaca, 8-3, in Saturday's first round.
Union split two opening matches in the "B" Singles bracket as well. Finkelstein and McCusker fought hard to outlast SLU's Alexandra Fuller and Maya Stepic in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (7-5), while the pair of Alphabet and Park lost 8-4 to Iuri and Sarah Oldland (SLU).
Union will be back in action tomorrow for day two of the Union Invitational beginning at 9 a.m. at the Union Tennis Courts.
