Women’s Tennis Strong As Vassar Scramble Finishes Sunday

POUGHKEEPSIE – The Vassar College women’s tennis team finished play at the Vassar Scramble on Sunday afternoon, hosting three rounds of doubles action from Walker Field House indoors after rain in the morning.

Vassar went 11-4 in doubles on Sunday afternoon, and finished the weekend with a 27-12 mark while winning 69 percent of its matches. “I am so pleased with our team’s progress this season,” said head coach Kathy Campbell. “Our team camaraderie and positive spirit is really apparent on and off the court and is a definite cornerstone of our “team-first” approach.”
Senior Shayna Becker continued her fine play this weekend with another doubles win, combining with freshman Tara Edwards for an 8-4 victory over Adrienne Sieverding and Stephanie Simon of Connecticut College.

Sophomore Morgan Flournoy and junior Dasha Ivenitsky cruised to an easy 8-1 win over Lindsay Haley and Victoria Zezula of New Paltz, while senior captain Connie Yoo and freshman Ashley Fair had a thrilling 9-8 win in round two as the pair earned a 10-6 win in the tiebreaker.

Junior Lauren DiFazio and freshman Vista Grinde also chalked up a win in the second round of doubles for the weekend, as they knocked off Hayley Zukerburg and Jillian Brigandi of Connecticut College, 8-4.

The second round of doubles Sunday and third round for the weekend saw Kate Christensen team up with Flournoy to roll to an 8-3 win over the Warren sisters of Connecticut College. Morgan Fitzgerald and Ivenitsky came together as well for a victory, downing Bartlett and Migliorini from CC 8-6 in a tightly contested match.

The final win of round three for the Brewers came from Fair and DiFazio, who came together to take care of the mixed pairing of Jessica Reich (New Paltz) and Susanna Studwell (Connecticut College), 8-1. In the fourth and final round, Edwards and Fitzgerald partnered up to take down a CC pairing 8-2, while Flournoy and Christensen stayed together to defeat Laila El Dessouki and Judy Kam of NYU, 8-5, for a nice win.

DiFazio chalked up her third win of the afternoon for the Brewers in round four for Vassar, as her and Yoo took down Studwell and Reich, 8-2. The final win of Sunday’s activities came from Fair and Grinde, who pulled out an 8-5 win for the Brewers. Doubles has been a strength for Vassar so far this season, as VC has won 69 percent (20-9) of its action.
Flournoy is now 5-1 in doubles play for the season, while Yoo, Grinde and DiFazio all have five pair’s wins as well. Vassar has already used 16 different doubles combinations through two weeks of tournament play.

“One of the great benefits of this tournament is the chance to get a lot of experience against various styles of play,” said Campbell. “ We now know that we have a lot of good doubles pair options which will serve us well in the spring dual match season.  We fought hard and played competitive, composed tennis every match.”

The Brewers will travel to the Intercollegiate Northeast Regionals at William Smith College next weekend, starting action Saturday, September 24.