After a dominant 9–0 victory against the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons on April 8, the Ithaca College women’s tennis team returned to the court defeating the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers 5–4 at the Glazer Arena in the Athletics and Events Center on April 10.
The Bombers began their match with doubles play, securing victories in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions to lead 2–1. The first doubles match to end displayed first-year students Maddie Sutro and Ava Casell-Lapetina against junior Gabby Donohue and sophomore Anika Galkiewicz. The Bombers’ first-year student duo didn’t show any slowing down, toppling over the Tigers 8–2 in the No. 3 Doubles spot to secure the Bombers’ first point of the day. Quickly after, sophomore Sabrina Cheung and first-year student Kendall Curley claimed victory in the No. 2 spot, winning 8–5 against the senior duo of Abby Murray and Jackie Drozd.
In the No. 1 doubles spot, the Bombers featured the junior pairing of Lauren Rodriguez and Taylor Crain, with first-year student Alys Pop sidelined for the past four matches. In a match that saw several lead changes, Crain and Rodriguez pushed to the last minute, however came up short 9–7 against first-year students Maya Clinard and Kira Kronenberg.
Moving on to singles, Kronenberg proved to be a challenge against Crain in the No.1 spot, coming up on top 6–3 in the first set and improved on her efforts, winning 6–0 in the second set. Next to fall was Rodriguez, who came up short 6–3 and 6–4 in her sets against Clinard in the No. 2 spot.
The South Hill Squad quickly grabbed the match back in the No. 3 and No. 4 spots with wins from Curley and Chueng. In the No. 3 spot, Curley dominated against Donohue winning her first set 6–0 and her second set 6–2. The No. 4 spot was a blow out with Chueng winning 6–1 and 6–0 against Drozd.
Sutro clinched the win in the No. 6 spot, defeating Galkiewicz 6–1 in her first set and 6–2 in her second set.
Head coach Tom Rishcoff commented on Sutro’s effort to clinch the victory for the Bombers. Rischoff said Sutro was calm and composed throughout the match which contributed to her dominant play.
“What I think she did a really good job with was controlling her nerves and staying in the moment every single time,” Rishcoff said. “She played great, moved the ball around well and really took it to her opponent.”
The Bombers record goes to 7–6 on the season and 2–2 against Liberty League competition. Rishcoff said he was satisfied with the adversity that his team showed toward the end.
“First of all, I thought this was a great team win,” Rishcoff said. “We came out with the doubles point which I think was great, but it came down to wire [and] we were able to get it done in the No. 6 singles. So, what I was really proud of was the traction that we had in the tough moments and I thought we played really big when it mattered.”
The Bombers will stay at home and try to stretch their win streak to three games against the Vassar College Brewers at 2 p.m. April 13 in Ithaca, New York.
