BOSTON- Nine-time defending America East Champion Boston University and first-year championship participant University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) posted semifinal wins to advance to the title match of the 2004 America East Women's Tennis Championship today at the Connecticut Tennis Center in New Haven, Conn. The winner of the America East crown, which will be held on Sunday, will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
Boston University used victories at second, fourth, fifth and sixth singles to earn the four points needed to win its match over Binghamton University, 4-2. Erin Katims (6-2, 6-3 over Lya Kushnirovich), Laura Ahmes (6-0, 6-0 over Vera Popova), Aimee Charest (6-1, 6-0 over Sherri Stern) and Monica Shepherd (6-1, 6-0 over Lauren Freel) won those aforementioned singles matches for the Terriers.
The doubles point was contested before the singles matches and the Bearcats recorded a clean sweep over Boston U. Kushnirovich and Janine Sadaka (9-8 over Katims-Charest), Melis Altinay and Stern (8-6 over Ahmes-Elisa Glas) and Popova and Freel (8-0 over Elena deMendoza-Shepherd) all teamed up to win doubles matches and the doubles point for Binghamton.
In the day's other semifinal, UMBC recorded a 4-1 victory over Stony Brook University to advance to the league final. The Retrievers started off on a good note as they won the doubles point. The Ale Pedergnana and Aimee Lim (8-1 over Lauren Conching-Victoria Vasile) team and the Elizabeth Anderson and Adriana Fonseca (8-1 over Olesya Ianovitch-Ashley Ward) duo posted the doubles victories for UMBC.
Singles competition began with a Stony Brook win as Anne Catherine Valle downed Tia Kaasalainen 6-2, 6-2 at first singles, but UMBC then fought back with victories at second, fourth and fifth singles to move on. Pedergnana (6-1, 6-4 over Georgia Bushell), Lana Khvalina (6-2, 6-1 over Vasile) and Fonseca (7-6, 6-1 over Ianovitch) recorded those singles wins for the Retrievers.
Boston University and UMBC will square off on Sunday at 9 a.m. with the championship on the line. The Terriers have won all 13 conference championships that they have competed in, including nine straight. UMBC is in its first season of play in America East, after being added as the 10th member institution for the 2003-04 athletic season.
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.