Nazareth blanks Utica; Elmira Beats Hartwick
NAZARETH 9, UTICA 0 Box
he Nazareth College women's tennis team defeated Utica College, 9-0 in Sunday's Empire 8 match.
In their last home match for the 2014 season, the Golden Flyers were able to sweep all three doubles matches easily winning 8-1, 8-0, 8-0. In singles, the Flyers maintained their performance, winning all six singles matches in straight sets. Liz Crane,
Audrey Knorr, and
Carlee Hastings each won their matches without dropping a game at third, fifth, and sixth singles respectively.
With the victory against Utica, Nazareth improves their record to 3-4 overall and 3-3 in E8 conference matches.
ELMIRA 8, HARTWICK 1 Box Score
The Elmira College women's tennis team continued their recent win streak as they defeated Hartwick College, 8-1, for EC's third win in a row. The win also moves the Soaring Eagles to 5-1 on the season and 4-1 in Empire 8 play, matching the best start to a season in the last 14 years.
The Purple and Gold once again got off to a strong start, taking a 3-0 lead after doubles was completed. Elmira's first doubles team of
Kimberly Salkin '18 and
Ayaka Yoshino '16 and third doubles team of
Kayla Fitzgerald '15 and
Megan Fitzgerald '18 came away with easy victories, 8-3 and 8-2 respectively, putting EC ahead 2-0.
Second doubles, however, was much closer as Elmira's
Amy Schmidt '15 and
Rebecca Zeuschner '18 fell behind a break and trailed 5-4 in their match. The duo would immediately break Hartwick's serve to even the score at five and then earn a crucial hold to pull ahead 6-5. That would be just what EC needed as another break of serve allowed for Zeuschner to successfully serve out the 8-5 win.
The Soaring Eagles took care of business in singles play as well, giving up no more than three games in each of the five victories. Salkin won 6-3, 6-0 at first singles, followed by Yoshino's 6-2, 6-1 win at second singles. Schmidt rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 victory at third singles and
Kayla Fitzgerald followed suit with a 6-1, 6-2 victory of her own.
Megan Fitzgerald rounded out the singles victories with a 6-0, 6-1 win at sixth singles. Hartwick's lone point on the afternoon came at the fifth spot where Zeuschner was forced to retire due to illness.