Box Score (PDF)
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's tennis team capped its busy home stretch of three matches in five days when IC returned to the indoor courts at the Athletics & Events Center's Glazer Arena for a Liberty League clash against William Smith on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, the Bombers' first win of the campaign continued to be elusive, as IC fell to the Herons by a 7-2 final margin.
William Smith 7 – Ithaca 2
Doubles
1. Kathryn Shaffer/Caroline Dunn (ITHACA) def. Maggie Bonomo/Dina Rigas (WSC) | 8-4
2. Allie Perron/Kate Foley (WSC) def. Brianna Ruback/Alexandra Dyszewski (WSC) | 8-2
3. Katelyn Nguyen/Charlotte Engebrecht (WSC) def. Sara Steinberg/Chloe Levy (ITHACA) | 8-3
Singles
1. Allie Perron (WSC) def. Brianna Ruback (ITHACA) | 6-0, 6-3
2. Maggie Bonomo (WSC) def. Caroline Dunn (ITHACA) | 6-3, 5-7, 6-1
3. Kathryn Shaffer (ITHACA) def. Kate Foley (WSC) | 6-4, 6-3
4. Dina Rigas (WSC) def. Alexandra Dyszewski (ITHACA) | 7-5, 6-2
5. Leland Barclay (WSC) def. Sara Steinberg (ITHACA) | 6-1, 5-7, 10-8
6. Alex Greenberg (WSC) def. Rel Klein (ITHACA) | 6-2, 6-0
The Bombers got off to a promising start to the day in the doubles session. The senior duo of
Kathryn Shaffer and
Caroline Dunn played one of their finest matches of the season in a commanding victory over Maggie Bonomo and Dina Rigas in the first lineup slot. IC's experienced tandem was clinical in positioning some fine shots, earning a couple early breaks to open up an advantage. The two sides traded service breaks midway through the pro-set, but Ithaca took control late winning the final three games to seal out an 8-4 win.
The other two doubles matches were not as successful unfortunately, allowing the Herons to take a 2-1 lead into the singles session. Junior
Brianna Ruback and first-year
Alexandra Dyszewski fell 8-2 in the second-doubles matchup against Allie Perron and Kate Foley, while sophomore
Sara Steinberg and first-year
Chloe Levy dropped an 8-3 decision against Katelyn Nguyen and Charlotte Engebrecht in the third position.
The singles session was certainly more competitive than the final score indicated. The Bombers battled closely in many of the matchups, but were only able to snatch one additional team point during the final half of the evening.
The highlight of the singles action came in the third-singles matchup as Shaffer continued her excellent play on the day with a straight-sets victory over William Smith's Kate Foley. The matchup was competitive throughout both sets, but Shaffer came through with the clutch shots in both to pull out an impressive win, going 6-4 and 6-3.
Two other singles matchups went to three sets, as Dunn and Steinberg battled hard albeit in defeats. Dunn got off to a bit of a slow start in her matchup against Bonomo in the second-singles position. She took awhile to find the range on her power forehand in a 6-3 opening set defeat; however, the senior responded with an impressive 7-5 come-from-behind win in the second set. She won three straight games late in the set to force a third. Unfortunately, the impressive comeback coupled with IC's busy stretch of matches over the past few days certainly led to a fatigue factor that settled in during the third. Bonomo pulled away for a 6-1 win.
The fifth-singles battle between Ithaca's
Sara Steinberg and William Smith's Leland Barclay capped the evening. The matchup followed a similar script to the second-singles matchup between Dunn and Bonomo. Barclay jumped out with a commanding first set, before IC's Steinberg raced back to score a 7-5 win in the second. With the match already decided in the team score, the pair went for a third-set super-breaker, which Barclay was just able to edge out by a 10-8 margin.
Dyszewski had a competitive first set in her fourth-singles matchup against Dina Rigas, but came up just short in a 7-5 decision. Rigas pulled away during the second set to take the matchup with a 6-2 win. Also suffering defeats in the singles session were Ruback at first-singles and first-year
Rel Klein at sixth singles.
Ithaca will return to the courts this weekend when it travels to TCNJ for a match set to begin at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 6.
