No. 31 Women’s Tennis Defuses Ithaca, 8-1

POUGHKEEPSIE – The Vassar College women’s tennis team, recently moved up in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings to No. 31, moved to 3-0 in Liberty League play this season with a strong 8-1 victory over visiting Ithaca College Saturday in play from Joss Courts.

The Brewers (9-3, 3-0 Liberty) got things started nicely in doubles, sweeping the opening three matches to take a 3-0 lead into singles play. At No. 2 doubles, freshman Sarra Yekta and senior Dasha Ivenitsky continued to gel nicely this season on the court, as the duo moved to 6-1 on the year with an 8-2 victory over Taylor Ginestro and Brianna Ruback.

Sophomores Ashley Fair and Vista Grinde also breezed to a victory at No. 3 doubles, chalking up an 8-2 victory. The duo is 3-0 together this season, and Grinde moved to 11-0 this season in doubles play, as her instincts, length and court coverage has proved to be an asset for VC this year.

The No. 1 doubles match was very tight, as Ithaca’s top pair of Kathryn Shaffer and Caroline Dunn pushed Vassar’s Morgane Flournoy and Tara Edwards to a tiebreak. In the breaker, VC’s top doubles grouping controlled action, picking up the point with a 7-2 win.

In singles play, freshman Frances Cornwall continued to get comfortable at the top spot for the Brewers, as she topped Ruback 6-1, 6-2 to earn her ninth win of the season. Freshman Meghan Rodick got the day off from doubles play, but still was sharp in singles play, as she cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win for her team-leading 14th triumph of the season.

At No. 4 singles, senior Courtney Geiss was dynamic for the Brewers, as she earned all 12 games played to move to 12-8 on the year and 3-0 in Liberty League play. Flournoy picked up her No. 5 doubles match against Sara Steinberg, but had to rally after dropping the opening set, pulling even with a 6-3 second set win before eking out a 10-8 tiebreaker to earn the victory. At No. 6, Yekta doubled her win total for the day, collecting her ninth win of the season and her fourth straight at No. 6 with a 6-0, 6-0 whitewashing of Parley Hannan.

“I am so pleased with the competitiveness, composure and overall level of play we displayed today,” said head coach Kathy Campbell. “With two weeks off from match play, we we started strong immediately and played smart tennis. Our net play was particularly strong in both singles and doubles. We’re looking forward to an upcoming series of challenging matches this month.”

VC will look to continue its hot play of late with a Liberty League road trip this weekend, taking on RIT Saturday, April 7 at 11 a.m. before continuing north for a battle with St. Lawrence University Sunday at 10 a.m. in Canton, N.