GENEVA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's tennis team opened its 2023-24 season this weekend as they traveled to nearby Geneva, N.Y. to compete in the Mary Hosking Invitational at the HWS Tennis Center. This year's crop of schools competing were SUNY Geneseo, William Smith, Nazareth College, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), University of Rochester, St. Lawrence and Union College.

The Bombers had several strong showings as Lauren Rodriguez and Kendall Curley were crowned B Flight doubles champions as well as Sabrina Cheung won Flight D singles by defeating teammate Kayla Shenk.

Flight A Singles

• Both Alys Pop and Taylor Crain handily won their first round matchups. Pop defeated Union's Grace Nicol 8-1 and Taylor Crain defeated Union's Chara Meidani 8-7 (7-3). Crain would go on to defeat her quarterfinals opponent, Sanjana Karnam by an 8-4 score to book her place in the semifinals. She put up a good fight against A. Aksdal-Jansen from St. Lawrence but came out on the losing end 8-5.

Flight B Singles

• First year Ava Casell-Lapetina made a strong debut for the Bombers as she defeated Rochester's Jasmin Toor 8-6 and that was followed up by another win this time coming against Jackie Drozd as she dispatched her opponent by a score of 8-4. Casell-Lepetina lost to the eventual B Flight winner, Ariane Karera from St. Lawrence, 8-1.

Flight C Singles

• First year Kendall Curley defeated Stephanie Kim from the University of Rochester in a close matchup 8-7 (8-6). She was not so lucky in her semifinals as she was defeated by the eventual flight winner, Neha Dania, 8-2.

Flight D Singles

• Kayla Shenk started off strong with a convincing 8-0 win over Talia Wutz from SUNY Geneseo. Teammate Sabrina Cheung also competed in this flight and she won her first matchup over Sydney Alphabet by an 8-3 score. Both breezed past their quarterfinals opponents and Shenk defeated Union's Kennedy Alexis 8-4 to book her place in the final. She was joined by Cheung who made light work of Maya Stepic from St. Lawrence defeating her 8-3 to setup a Bomber vs. Bomber final. Sabrina Cheung got the best of her teammate as she was crowned the champion of the flight by defeating Shenk by a 8-6 score.

Flight A Doubles

• Taylor Crain and Alys Pop teamed for the first-time in their respective careers and came away with an 8-2 victory over their opponents from Union. They would then defeat Alex Galle and Natalie Pipes from Geneseo in convincing 8-0 fashion. They fell in the semifinals to the eventual runners-up in Ariane Karera and Yvette Karera by an 8-6 score.

Flight B Doubles

• The Bombers pair of Lauren Rodriguez and Kendall Curley had a strong showing and ended up winning the B Flight in convincing fashion. They defeated their opponents from William Smith 8-2 and would defeat Union's Paige Tromblee and Katie Hirnak, 8-1 to book a spot in the semifinals. The IC duo bested the St. Lawrence pair of Ellie Fritz and Alexandra Fuller by a score of 8-4. In arguably the most competitive matchup of the weekend, Rodriguez and Curley went on to defeat Union's Claire Langille Skylar Semon in the final, 8-7 (7-4).

 
Next up, Ithaca College will compete in the Lions Tournament, which will be against NYU and TCNJ on September 16-17.