Binghamton University, University of New Hampshire, and Stony Brook University posted first round wins Friday to advance to the semifinals of the America East Women's Tennis Championship at the Connecticut Tennis Center in New Haven, Conn. Second seeded Binghamton advanced with a 4-0 win over seventh seeded University at Albany, while third seeded New Hampshire downed sixth seeded University of Hartford, 5-1. Binghamton and New Hampshire and will play the first semifinal match on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. Fourth seeded Stony Brook University, a 4-1 winner over fifth seeded University of Vermont, will take on top seeded Boston University in Saturday's second semifinal match at the Cullman Indoor Tennis Complex in New Haven, Conn. The winner of the America East Women’s Tennis Championship, which will be decided Sunday, receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.Results
Binghamton won the doubles point behind wins at second and third singles. Amy Weissberg and Alexis Brill teamed up to defeat Courtney Michels and Alex Berley (8-2) at second doubles, and Kristin Jobe and Amy Linda downed Krista Babiarz and Reeba Miller (8-1) at third doubles. Justina Hakimi and Janine Sadaka were leading Violeta Petijevic and Marisa Berley (7-5) at first doubles when the match was stopped due to the doubles team point having been decided.
In singles play, Binghamton won at fourth, fifth, and sixth singles with Brill defeating Babiarz (6-0, 6-1), Jobe downing Alex Berley (6-1, 6-1) and Linda beating Miller (6-0, 6-0), respectively. Hakimi (6-0, 3-5 over Petijevic) and Weissberg (6-1, 4-0 over Marisa Berley) were leading their matches for the Bearcats at first and third singles, respectively, when the match was halted due to the team score having been decided. Michels led Sadaka, 6-2, 1-2, for the Great Danes at the time the match was stopped.
New Hampshire took the doubles point, winning two of three matches. Lensey Dixon and Jenny Witter downed Lauren Perry and Stefanie Leontiadis, 8-1, at second doubles, while Jess Pasay and Debbie Kung defeated Crystallia Leontiadis and Angela Venincasa, 8-4, at third doubles. Ana Maria Mora and Alexis Alexander teamed up for Hartford to beat Lindsey Johnson and Hallie Erickson, 8-3, at first doubles.
New Hampshire closed out the match by winning four of the five completed singles matches to advance. The Wildcats took wins at first singles (Johnson over Mora; 6-1, 4-6, 6-2), second singles (Erickson over Alexander; 7-5, 6-4), third singles (Dixon over Perry; 6-0, 6-4) and sixth singles (Kung over Venincasa; 6-2, 6-2). Hartford's Crystallia Leontiadis defeated Witter at fourth singles, 0-6, 6-1, 6-2, while Stefanie Leontiadis and Pasay were tied a one set apiece (6-2, 5-7) when the match was stopped due to the team score having been decided.
Stony Brook took two of three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. Anne Catherine Valle and Patricia Gomez defeated Molly Moran and Maika Foukal, 8-3, at first doubles, and Karen Hansen and Carmie Zink teamed up to down Laura Beth Halter and Alie Taylor, 8-6, at second doubles. Mandy Harrison and Kyna Delaney beat Georgia Bushell and Claire Shean, 8-3, at third doubles for Vermont.
Stony Brook sealed the match winning three of the four completed singles matches. Valle (6-1, 6-1 over Moran), Hansen (6-2, 6-1 over Harrison) and Bushell (6-2, 6-1 over Foukal) earned wins at first, third, and fourth singles, respectively, for Stony Brook. Taylor, a 7-5, 6-2 winner over Shean, captured the point for Vermont at fifth singles. The match at second singles was stopped due to the team score having been decided with Gomez leading Halter, 6-2, 5-1.
The America East Tennis Championship utilizes a format of three doubles matches and six singles matches. Doubles matches are played first using eight-game pro sets with a 12-point tie-break at eight games all. The team winning two or more of the doubles matches receives one point in the team scoring. The doubles matches are followed by the singles matches using a best two-of-three sets format. Each singles match is worth one point. A minimum of four points is required to win the team match.
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