MCCC Doubles Partners Reach Semifinal Round
At ITA Tennis Championships


9/29/09


West Windsor, N.J. - Mercer County Community College sophomore doubles partners Emily Dow (Princeton Junction, N.J.) and Rebecca Wolf (Pennington, N.J.) reached the 'A' flight semifinals before falling at the Second Women's Northeast Regional ITA/Wilson Tennis Championship played at Mercer County Park from September 25-27.

Seeded sixth in the flight, the Dow-Wolf duo fell 8-6 to fourth-seeded Ashley Sherinsky and Kate Tiburzi of Harford Community College (Bel Air, Md.) in the semifinals. Earlier, Dow and Wolf won their Round of 16 and quarterfinal-round matches.

MCCC's other top finishers at the 12-team tournament were quarterfinalists Dow, who won twice in 'A' flight singles, sophomores Kristina Holsman (Hamilton, N.J.) and Maria Eldridge (Lawrenceville, N.J.) in 'B' flight singles, and freshmen Shantell Bacon-Jones (Trenton, N.J.) and Sachiko Nishida (Princeton, N.J.) in 'B' flight doubles.

According to MCCC Head Coach Marc Vecchiolla, this team has come a long way already. "I can't say enough positive things about all of our players, especially our top four players sophomores Wolf, Dow, Holsman and Eldridge. They're beginning to round the corner and I expect their games to peak at regionals."

Assessing the competition, Vecchiolla considers Gloucester and Brookdale to be two of the strongest teams not only in the region, but in the country. "Our current record of 1-4 is not indicative of how strong we really are," he said. He is satisfied with the team's fifth place finish out of 12 teams at the ITA tournament. "This was a strong tournament that included some Division 1 schools, including first place finisher Harford."

The championship winners were: 'A' flight singles, eighth-seeded Elizabeth Uhrinec of Onondaga Community College (Syracuse, N.Y.); 'B' flight singles, top-seeded Courtney Brewer of Harford; 'C' flight singles, top-seeded Natalie DeSabato of Brookdale Community College (Lincroft, N.J.); 'A' flight doubles, top-seeded Simone Mrazova and Soizette Simmons of ASA (New York); and 'B' flight doubles, second-seeded Courtney Addis and Amanda Berry of Gloucester County College (Sewell, N.J.).

The 'A' flight singles and doubles winners automatically qualified for the ITA National Small College Championships Oct. 16-19 at Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala.

Vecchiolla is hoping the Vikings will continue on their upward trajectory as the season progresses. "Needless to say, I'm looking for the women to shake things up and cause some trouble for the other teams in the region by the end of the season," he said.

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