Top Two Seeds to Play for a Title on Saturday

The top two seeds - Nazareth and Stevens - posted impressive Semifinal wins Friday afternoon in Hoboken, N.J., to advance to Saturday's championship final. Due to a dicey forecast Saturday, this year's championship match has been moved indoors and will be played at the Washington Township Tennis and Fitness Club. Here's how Friday's Semifinal matches at Stevens went -

#1 Nazareth 5, #4 Alfred 0
HOBOKEN, N.J. - Top-seeded Nazareth defeated fourth-seeded Alfred for the second time in five days Friday, 5-0, to advance to the Empire 8 Conference championship match. The Golden Flyers (10-1 overall) will play second-seeded Stevens for the E8 title Saturday at 11 a.m. in Hoboken. Saturday's match will be a rematch of last year's conference title match in which Nazareth prevailed, 5-4, to win the title and to gain an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Nazareth won all three doubles matches Friday against the Saxons and needed to win only two singles matches to advance. The Golden Flyers won a close match at first doubles as sophomore Erin Schantz and junior Brooke Murphy prevailed in a tiebreaker, 8-7, over Alfred's Inda Gillett and Tori Pellegrino. Marisa Joyce and Jackie Lisak won 8-0 at second doubles and Elizabeth Karstedt and Maelah Nadeau won 8-2 at third doubles.

Joyce and Karstedt then won straight set matches in singles to clinch the shutout victory.

#2 Stevens 5, #3 St. John Fisher 0
HOBOKEN, N.J. - Stevens took out No. 3 St. John Fisher 5-0 in an Empire 8 Conference semifinal Friday on Stevens Tennis Courts. The Ducks defeated the Cardinals for the second time this year and move to 9-1. Stevens moves to the E8 Championship Final for the second consecutive season and the ninth time in program history.

Stevens got off to a great start and recorded three convincing doubles wins to go up 3-0. Senior Sydney Zorectic and freshman Alexis Fuda did not drop a single game in the third doubles position, posting an 8-0 win against Jacqueline Chouinard and Grace Peter. Freshman Agatha Malinowski and junior Isabella Calandra continued their winning ways by recording an 8-3 win at first doubles against Kaili Saffran and Cassidy Bell. Senior Julia Earl and sophomore Makenna Sargis battled back from an 0-3 deficit to take the second doubles flight.

Sargis and Earl delivered the final two points for the Ducks to secure their birth into the E8 championship final. Earl, the team's senior captain downed Bell 6-1, 6-4 in the No. 2 singles flight to give the Ducks a comfortable 4-0 lead. Sargis followed suit with a convincing 6-1, 6-0 win over Zuzanna Pociecha in the sixth singles position to clinch the match for Stevens.

2018 E8 Women's Tennis Championship Schedule
Friday, October 12
No. 2 Stevens 5, No. 3 St. John Fisher 0
No. 1 Nazareth 5, No. 4 Alfred 0

Saturday, October 13
(Indoors)
Championship 11:00am
#1 Nazareth vs. #2 Stevens

- Information for this release provided by the athletic communications staffs at Nazareth and Stevens -

About the Empire 8 Conference
The members of the Empire 8 are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and aspire to be regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership seeks to distinguish itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the Empire 8.