Ithaca Downs Fisher, Completes Perfect Regular-Season Slate
Box Score (PDF)
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's tennis team completed a perfect run through its fall regular-season slate on Saturday afternoon when it downed St. John Fisher 9-0 at Cornell's Reis Tennis Center. The victory upped the Bombers' record to 8-0 in dual matches on the year, while they have scored 9-0 victories in seven consecutive dual matches.
"It always feels good, but we know we have more work to do to achieve our ultimate goal for the fall," head coach
Bill Austin said. "Overall, I'm really happy with how the team is playing right now."
As has been the case throughout Ithaca's dominant run through the fall, the squad got off to a fast start with three commanding victories in the doubles portion of the match. The Bombers conceded only four games through tandems play.
Senior,
Haley Kusak, and sophomore,
Caroline Dunn, scored the first point for IC with an 8-1 triumph over Sarah Sorrentino and Katey Padden of the visiting Cardinals. The doubles win was Kusak's 60th of her career, moving her into third place on the program's all-time list.
Another sophomore-senior combination doubled IC's advantage shortly thereafter, as
Kathryn Shaffer and
Maddie Overholt also scored an 8-1 victory. The Bombers' third-flight duo downed Caroline Seaberg and Amanda Pendergast to make it 2-0.
The second-flight tandem of freshman,
Brianna Ruback, and sophomore,
Taylor Ginestro, closed out doubles play with an 8-2 win over Olivia Rotondo and Taylor Slink.
It did not take long for Ithaca to secure the match during singles play. The top two flights brought it home for the Bombers, as Kusak and Ruback both scored 6-0, 6-0 sweeps to clinch the match. Kusak downed Sorrentino to up Ithaca's advantage to 4-0, while Ruback took down Padden to secure the game-winning point.
IC's fifth- and sixth-flight netters, Shaffer and Overholt, were next to finish. Overholt made the team score 6-0 when she defeated Eileen Fleming of St. John Fisher by a 6-1, 6-0 count. Shaffer won her fifth-flight match against Caroline Seaberg by an identical 6-1, 6-0 score line.
Senior,
Jodi Grosberg, scored the Bombers' eighth point with a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over the Cardinals' Rotondo. Dunn closed out the sweep with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-2 victory over Fishers' Taylor Slink in the third flight.
"We will continue to focus on our fitness and focus in practice this week," Austin finished. "We'll be prepared to play our best tennis when we head to the Empire 8 Championships next weekend."
Ithaca will be the number-one seed at next weekend's Empire 8 Championships, which is set to get underway on Friday, October 14. IC will face either Nazareth or Hartwick in the semifinal round of the tournament.