Ithaca Women's Tennis Claims Decisive NCAA Tournament First-Round Victory
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Ithaca College women's tennis team defeated Colby-Sawyer 5-0 in a first-round match of the NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Championships on Friday afternoon on the campus of Williams College.
Colby-Sawyer entered the match with an 18-4 record, but their roster was depleted due to injury, a job commitment and graduation duties, which meant the Chargers were forced to forfeit at number three doubles and number six singles, giving Ithaca a 2-0 lead before the first serve was struck.
With the win Ithaca improves to 16-5 on the year and 4-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Colby-Sawyer ended the season with a record of 18-5 and the Chargers are now 0-2 all-time in the NCAA Tourney.
Ithaca, the Empire 8 champions, wasted no time in strengthening their grip on the match, winning 8-4 at first doubles with the strong play of Laurel Salladay and Cristina Nunez. The Bombers finished off the sweep of doubles when Carly Siegel and Marni Blumenthal won at second doubles by a score of 8-3.
With the forfeit win at sixth singles in the bank, Ithaca needed to post just one win on the court in singles play to advance to the second round. The honor of securing the fifth match point fell to the Bombers’ number five singles player Marni Blumenthal who won in straight sets over Colby-Sawyer's Ellen Graham 6-0, 6-1.
The Bombers led all four other singles matches that were on court by at least one set.
Ithaca will face host Williams (18-4) at 1:30 Saturday afternoon if play is conducted outdoors, and not before 12:30 p.m. if inclement weather forces play indoors to the Lansing Chapman Rink at Williams.