Women's Tennis | 10/9/2022 6:12:00 PM
ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University women's tennis team defeated Russell Sage College on Sunday afternoon, 9-0 to secure a spot in the Empire 8 Championship Tournament, set to be hosted by No. 1 seeded, Hartwick College.
Anna Gwozdz (South Wales, NY/Iroquois) clinched the Saxons' postseason berth with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles, defeating Sage's Claire Connolly. The Saxons (9-3, 4-3 Empire 8) were up 3-0 after doubles, winning No. 1, 8-6 and both No. 2 and No. 3, 8-3.
"Super proud of the team today getting a big win! We're back in the playoffs for the first time since the 2018-19 season," Head Coach
Jordan Crouch said. "What a special group of players to be back with. It wasn't always pretty, but they fought and battled to get us in this position we were in today."
Macy Youngberg (Falconer, NY/Falconer Central) got the team's fourth point with a quick, 6-0, 6-0 No. 4 singles win, before Gwozdz scored the match-winner.
Alina Zabihailo (Kyiv, Ukraine/Educational Complex #143) won No. 1 singles, 7-5, 6-1 right after Youngberg.
Both
Abigail Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) and
Alexis Giordano (Lewiston, NY/Lewiston-Porter) swept their opponents at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively. The duo was also the first doubles team finished at the beginning of the match, playing at the No. 3 spot.
Eve Liu (Yantai, China/Wilbraham and Monson Academy) battled in the longest singles matches of the day, winning No. 2 singles, 7-5, 6-1.
Sunday's match was also themed as a Pink Match, in honor of Saxons alumna and former tennis player,
Courtney (Ferrara) Wilhelm '17. The Saxons' women's and men's tennis teams as well as Alfred University's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) combined to raise money to donate to Ferrara's favorite charity, 13thirty Cancer Connect. Between raffling off Saxon merchandise, a Buffalo Bills kicker, Tyler Bass signed football, a serve-speed contest and a tennis ball toss, the three entities raised over $300 to donate to 13thirty Cancer Connect. The Bass football has raffles still available for purchase. Please contact Coach Crouch (
crouch@alfred.edu) for details with the drawing to happen live on the Saxon tennis Instagram account, @saxonstennis on Wednesday evening at 4:00pm.
The Saxons will next travel to No. 1 Hartwick on Friday, October 14 as they are the No. 4 seed. Nazareth College is No. 2 and Houghton University is the No. 3 seed.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished 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 E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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