Hawks Tennis Sweeps Cortland 7-0, Secures No. 1 Seed

By Kaite Wilson

BINGHAMTON – The State University of New York at New Paltz swept Cortland State 7-0 Saturday setting a school record for not dropping a single game to any other conference opponent. After sweeping the other schools in the conference the Hawks sit at a comfortable record of 7-0 overall, clinching the number one seed heading into the spring season.

Doubles Matches: Justine Stanejko and Isabel van der Veen swept their third match of the weekend beating the Red Dragons 6-0. Sydney Sladicka and Angelica Gabriel earned their win with a 6-0 set as well. Olivia Kunz and Nina Genzone joined the two other pairs of Hawks, sweeping their Red Dragon pair in another 6-0 set.

Singles Matches: In addition to the doubles matches, the Hawks went undefeated this week in Binghamton. Stanejko earned a win with two clean 6-0 sets, ending the weekend without letting up a single game.

Sladicka won her match by going 6-1 in the first set and 6-0 in the second, leading the Hawks closer to the win. Isabel van der Veen added another win to her career, winning the first set 6-2 and the second 6-1.

Amirah Alston went 6-0 in her first set. Alston locked up the win with a 6-1 second set.

Kunz won her match as well, going 6-4 in the first set and 6-1 in the second.

Gabriel earned her third win of the weekend finishing her match with a 6-1 first set followed by a 6-2 set to end the fall season.

Coach Rob Burley described the match as “a very convincing win to cap off an amazing fall season against a determined Cortland team. I was very pleased with the way our doubles teams handled the matches today followed by a strong confident attitude going into singles. Today saw our program create a new school record by winning every conference match 7-0 not dropping a game against any other conference program. We now look forward to heading into the spring with the #1 seed for the conference championships. Overall, this has been one of the most successful fall seasons.”

Senior Captain Isabel van der Veen notes that “the key to success for us was how close we all are with each other. This is hands down one of the closest teams I have been on in my 4 years here and I truly think that it makes a huge difference. We all want to go out there and win for not only ourselves but for the whole entire team. When you combine that with our aggressiveness on the tennis court, we are pretty much unstoppable.”

She believes that “this team is beyond prepared to repeat as champions again in the spring. We all want to win it so badly that I feel like we’ve all bought into the winning mentality, and no one is getting in the way of that. I’m excited to see what happens in the spring and truly hope to finish it on a high note.”

As the fall season concludes the Hawks take a break before returning to the court in April of the new year.