Box Score (PDF)
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's tennis team kicked off its busy stretch to conclude the regular season when the Bombers welcomed Hamilton to the Wheeler Tennis Courts for a non-league battle. Unfortunately, Ithaca got off to a slow start and never recovered in falling to the Continentals 7-2. The loss drops IC's record to 4-10 on the year.
It was the doubles session that set the tone on a pristine yet crisp Thursday afternoon on South Hill. Hamilton came out fast, scoring a quick 8-2 victory at second-doubles. Sophomore
Brianna Ruback and freshman
Sara Steinberg struggled to generate momentum in the match against Jane Haffer and Sophia Aulicino.
Hamilton took control of the match in the first-doubles and third-doubles matchups. Junior
Kathryn Shaffer and
Caroline Dunn led their first-doubles matchup against Audrey Chor and Ajla Karabegovic, but the Continentals rattled off four straight games, picking up two crucial breaks in an 8-5 triumph. Shortly after, Ndanu Mutiisya and Katherine McNally bested IC's junior tandem of
Taylor Ginestro and
Hannah Kasoff in an 8-4 final.
Ithaca showed some fight in the singles session, but unfortunately was not enough. The Bombers scored victories from Dunn and Steinberg at third-singles and fifth-singles, respectively, to close out the day on a positive note.
Steinberg scored IC's first team point with a strong effort at fifth-singles in her win over Ndanu Mutiisya. Shaking off some early jitters, Steinberg rallied to win her opening set 6-4. She overcame another early deficit in the second set, scoring a couple big breaks to pull back ahead late to clinch her seventh win of the year. She completed the 6-4, 6-4 straight-sets win over Mutiisya.
Dunn raced out to a big lead in her matchup against Audrey Chor, leading the opening set 5-1 at one point, before Chor battled back to make things close. Dunn would hold her off in the first set to win 6-4; however, Chor used that momentum shift to take the second set 6-4 to force a third-set super-breaker. Dunn jumped out to a big lead, serving strong and forcing Chor into errors with her power forehand. She would pull away early to win the super-breaker 10-6. It was Dunn's fifth singles win of the campaign.
Ithaca nearly pulled out a third point in the tilt at the top flight, but Ruback came up just short. Leading for the majority of the opening set; however, Aulicino found her groove late and completed a comeback to take the opening frame 6-4. Ruback picked up a big break and held serve in a tightly contested 12
th game to level the second set at 6-6 to force a tiebreak. The breaker was quite close, but Aulicino was able to take the final two points to win the tiebreak 7-4, taking the second set 7-6 to close out the match.
Ithaca returns to action on Saturday, April 28, when it welcomes another NESCAC foe in Trinity (Conn.). Start time for the match is 10:00 a.m.
