Kusak Advances to Sunday at ITA Northeast Regionals
GENEVA, N.Y. - Three members from the Ithaca College women's tennis team took to the courts at the Hobart-William Smith Tennis Center in Geneva, N.Y., for the opening day of the ITA Northeast Regional tournament. The Bombers advanced one participant to Sunday in singles action, as senior,
Haley Kusak, won both her Round of 64 and Round of 32 matchups.
Three women's netters participated in the 64-player singles draw, as freshman,
Brianna Ruback, and sophomore,
Caroline Dunn, were also invited to the regional tournament. All three Ithaca players won their opening round draws in impressive fashion.
Dunn kicked off the day's action with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Allison Friends of Empire 8 rival Nazareth College. Ruback made quick work of SUNY Geneseo's Anika Pornpitaksuk, also winning in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. Despite being Ithaca's lone seeded entrant in the singles draw, she drew an extremely difficult matchup in Skidmore's Jessica Ampel. She was able to score a clutch break to win the opening set by a 7-5 score, before completing the victory with a 6-4 triumph in set number two.
Kusak carried her momentum from the hard-fought victory in the Round of 64 into her second-round matchup against Alyssa Baldi of The College of New Jersey. The IC senior rolled to a 6-0 opening set win and continued her strong play with a 6-2 victory in set number two. She will face fourth-seeded Kate Christensen of Vassar College in tomorrow's Round of 16 match.
Unfortunately, Kusak was the lone Bomber to make it to tomorrow, as Dunn fell to Lyndsay Jadow 6-1, 6-1 and Ruback had her first ITA Regional appearance come to an end with a 7-5, 6-1 defeat to Sarah Mensah of Brockport.
Kusak and Dunn also took to the courts together as a tandem in the 32-team doubles draw. The Bombers duo scored a thrilling opening round 8-6 victory over More and Denton from tournament-host William Smith. However, their run came to an end in the Round of 16, as the IC tandem fell to Baldi and Prestera of TCNJ.
Tennis action is set to get back underway at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.