Box Score (PDF)
Beverly, Mass. – The Ithaca College women's tennis team made its 17
th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament on Friday when it took on Nichols College in an Opening Round match at the Bass River Tennis Club in Beverly, Mass. Unfortunately, the Bombers' run was cut short, as the Bison held off a furious Ithaca rally during the singles portion of the match to take a 5-3 decision. The loss drops IC to a 6-11 all-time record in NCAA Tournament matches.
The match was delayed over an hour, as wet weather in the Boston, Mass., area on Friday morning necessitated a move from the outdoor site, which was the Voute Tennis Complex on the campus of regional host Tufts University, to the indoor site in Beverly, Mass. The sudden change of venues did not help Ithaca during the early portion of the match, as Nichols raced out to an early advantage in doubles. The Bison took a stranglehold lead, sweeping all three tandems bouts.
Doubles play has been a thorn in the side of IC this spring, as the squad has struggled to find consistent pairings in the bottom two pairings. Trying to shake things up, Ithaca went with little used groupings, as
Brianna Ruback paired with
Kathryn Shaffer in the second flight, while
Taylor Ginestro played with
Jodi Grosberg in the third flight.
Although the Bison played only two official matches dating back to their win in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship last October, they were incredibly sharp early on. Cristina Szepanski and Lindsey Kaplan bested IC's third-flight duo of Ginestro and Grosberg in an 8-3 decision to get Nichols on the board.
The Nichols lead was extended when Amarie Settiwongse and Ashley Dallaire beat Ithaca's top pairing of
Haley Kusak and
Caroline Dunn in an 8-5 bout. It was only the seventh time this season that Kusak and Dunn had been defeated in doubles play. The Bison capped the sweep of the tandems action shortly after when Alanna Judd and Isabelle Leonardi beat Ruback and Shaffer 8-4 in the second flight.
The significant deficit grew even wider, as IC was pushed to the brink early on in the singles portion of the match. Judd scored a relatively easy 6-1, 6-2 win over Ithaca's Ruback in the second flight to make the team score 4-0. However, Ithaca responded with a boatload of heart in staging a furious comeback to pull back within striking distance.
Kusak won her 64
th and final career singles victory with a 6-4, 6-0 win against Amarie Settiwongse in the top flight to score IC's first point in the match. The win closed the gap to 4-1.
Playing in the sixth flight, Ginestro also scored a straight sets win, defeating Nichols' Lindsey Kaplan 7-5, 6-2. Shaffer also showed little rust in her first competition match since the fall, defeating Isabelle Leonardi 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the fifth flight. The two wins pulled the Bombers within one point in the team score at 4-3.
Things continued to look like they were going to turn the Bombers' way down the stretch. Dunn rallied from an opening set defeat to win a second set against Megan Nathanson in the third flight. Meanwhile, Grosberg also dropped the opening set in her fourth flight matchup against Daniela Saldarriaga. IC's senior netter rallied from an early deficit to tie the second set at 5-5, but Saldarriaga was able to hold serve and then score the deciding break to win the fourth flight 6-3, 7-5. Dunn's match went unfinished with each player holding serve through five games.
Ithaca finishes the season with a 13-8 record. The Bombers will compete in their first season in the Liberty League next season with the women's traditional season moving from the fall to the spring.
