Women's Tennis | 10/15/2021 7:11:25 PM
HOUGHTON, NY – Top-seeded Nazareth College and No. 2 seed Hartwick College will meet for the 2021 Empire 8 Women’s Tennis Championship after earning semifinal victories on Friday from Houghton College. The Golden Flyers needed some late match magic to defeat host Houghton, the No. 4 seed, 5-4, while Hartwick defeated No. 3 seed St. John Fisher, 5-1. The 2021 E8 Championship will take place from Houghton at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The winner of Saturday’s Empire 8 Championship match will earn the automatic bid into the 2022 NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Championship, which begins May 12. Nazareth, who enters the championship with an 8-1 record is looking for its second straight Empire 8 title, third in the last five seasons and sixth overall, while Hartwick is 9-2 overall and in the Empire 8 title match for the first time in program history.
Nazareth defeated Hartwick during the regular season by a score of 8-1 on Sept. 18. Hartwick won the first set in four of the singles matches before Nazareth rallied to win all four of those contests in three sets.
No. 1 Nazareth 5, No. 4 Houghton 4
Senior
Lauren Carr earned the decisive singles point Friday with a thrilling three-set triumph as Nazareth (8-1) held off fourth-seeded Houghton for a 5-4 victory.
Nazareth defeated Houghton, 7-2, in a regular-season match at Nazareth back on Oct. 1, but the going was tougher this time around as the Highlanders secured two of the three doubles points before winning points at fourth and sixth singles.
That left the outcome of the match in the capable hands of Carr, who split the first two third singles sets with Houghton's Marilynn Amborski 6-1, 4-6. Carr then trailed 3-0 in the third set before rallying to win 6-4. Senior
Caroline Breitweiser also came up big for Nazareth at fifth singles as she split the first two sets with Houghton's Maddison Soth before taking the third set 6-3.
For Nazareth
Aliya Guzman and
Claire Pullen combined for an 8-1 win at first doubles, but Houghton gained a 2-1 lead with close wins at second and third doubles. At second doubles, Houghton's team of Soth and Chloe Esch edged Nazareth's tandem of Carr and
Lily Bulkeley 8-7, which included a 7-5 tiebreaker. At third doubles, Nazareth's
Gwen Burns and
Theresa Hecht lost 8-5 against Amborski and Tessa Brown of Houghton.
In singles, Guzman and Pullen were straight-set winners at first and second singles respectively, but Houghton stayed close as Esch defeated Bulkeley 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 at fourth singles and Brown topped Nazareth's
Katelyn Spath 6-3, 6-3 at sixth singles.
No. 2 Hartwick 5, No. 3 St. John Fisher 1
Hartwick won its first Empire 8 Tournament match since 2000, defeating No. 3 seed St. John Fisher (5-5) by a score of 5-1 at the Kerr-Pegula Field House at Houghton.
The Hawks started off the day by claiming two of the three available points at doubles. Top pairing
Victoria Wilson and
Jade Killikelly got by Kathryn Strait and Mikayla Santulli with ease at 8-1, needing five fewer games to beat them than in their regular season matchup. Second doubles team
Ryann Ashby and
Val Kohberger squeezed by Keely Legnard and Madison Galvin 8-7 with a 7-2 tiebreaker for the Hawks' second point, but
Colleen Marsh and
Jess Sexton could not quite complete the doubles sweep in an 8-6 loss to Jacqueline Chouinard and Riley Ellis.
Hartwick's leads grew to two without any more effort required on their part, as Wilson's third flight opponent withdrew due to injury to give the Hawks the win. Killikelly's adversary at top singles also had to retire due to injury, although the Hartwick sophomore had won the first set 6-4 and led the second 3-0 by that point. Marsh provided the clincher at fifth singles, taking out Chouinard 6-3, 6-1. The match-winning point came as Chouinard was forced to the net after Marsh's return flicked off the top of it, enabling Marsh to loft one over her opponent for the win.
The matchups of Ashby at second singles, Kohberger at fourth singles, and Sexton at sixth singles were unfinished, as the Hawks had all five points they needed to win.
2021 Empire 8 Women's Tennis Championship Tournament Schedule
Semifinals - Friday, October 15 at Houghton
No. 1 Nazareth defeated No. 4 Houghton, 5-4 -- BOX SCORE
No. 2 Hartwick defeated No. 3 St. John Fisher, 5-1 -- BOX SCORE
Championship - Saturday, October 16 at Houghton
No. 1 Nazareth vs. No. 2 Hartwick - 1 p.m.
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