Ithaca Captures 11th Straight Empire 8 Crown
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Ithaca College women's tennis team secured its 11th consecutive Empire 8 championship on Saturday after defeating Stevens Institute of Technology, 5-1. With the win, the Bombers have earned the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship.
Ithaca (11-0), the tournament's top seed, won all three completed singles matches and went 2-1 in doubles play against No. 3 Stevens (8-3).
After sweeping her two singles and two doubles matches during the weekend and dropping just eight games in posting a 4-0 record, junior
Haley Kusak was named Empire 8 Tournament MVP.
"Every title is special. It's what we strive for and what we play for when we first take the court in August, and it's why we have worked so hard in practice and our matches," said head coach Bill Austin, who has led Ithaca to a 176-100 record (.638 winning percentage) in 15 seasons coaching the Bombers.
"Winning an Empire 8 championship is our goal every year. This team is special because you have turnover year-to-year between graduation and bringing in new student-athletes, but this team is very talented and has more first-year players (six) than usual. Everyone plays hard and everyone contributed to this team win. They really wanted this title and worked hard as a team to achieve their goals."
Kusak improved to 10-0 in first singles action with a 6-2, 6-0 win in the finals. Freshman
McKinleigh Lair earned a 6-2, 6-2 win at second singles, and senior
Marni Blumenthal prevailed 6-0, 6-0 at fourth singles to propel the Bombes.
Kusak and Lair earned an 8-3 win at first doubles, and freshmen
Caroline Dunn and
Shayna Ginster won 8-2 at second doubles for Ithaca. Stevens' only point of the championship match came with a 9-8 (7-5) at third doubles.
"Haley has been our number one at both singles and doubles all year and she is undefeated," Austin said of his MVP. "In my eyes that was a slam dunk selection as MVP. She has been fantastic all year, but this is a team game and everyone contributed to this championship. Our doubles teams played much better over the weekend, and third doubles fought hard and stepped up their game for us. We had to go and get results in the singles matches and they got the job done."
The Bombers conclude the fall portion of the schedule having won 94 of a possible 96 matches.
Singles competition
1.
Haley Kusak (ITHACA) def. Alexis Connor (Stevens) 6-2, 6-0
2.
McKinleigh Lair (ITHACA) def. Julia Guignard (Stevens) 6-2, 6-2
3.
Caroline Dunn (ITHACA) vs. Sydney Zoretic (Stevens) 6-4, 4-1 (DNF)
4.
Marni Blumenthal (ITHACA) def. Jill Hadwen (Stevens) 6-0, 6-0
5.
Shayna Ginster (ITHACA) vs. Jillian Morneau (Stevens) DNF
6.
Jodi Grosberg (ITHACA) vs. Allie Masciana (Stevens) DNF
Doubles competition
1.
Haley Kusak/
McKinleigh Lair (ITHACA) def. Connor/Guignad (Stevens) 8-3
2.
Caroline Dunn/
Shayna Ginster (ITHACA) def. Zoretic/Katrina Guido (Stevens) 8-2
3. Hadwen/Victoria Piskarev (Stevens) def.
Marni Blumenthal/
Sydney Greenspan(ITHACA) 9-8 (7-5)
Match Notes
Stevens 8-3, Ithaca 11-0
Empire 8 Conference Finals
Ithaca earns 11
th straight Empire 8 championship and the conference's automatic qualifier into NCAA Division III tournament.