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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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