VESTAL, N.Y. – On the opening day of the 2015 America East Women’s Tennis Championship, the Binghamton Bearcats and Albany Great Danes both punched their ticket to the semifinals.
The first quarterfinal match took place at noon rather than 10:00 A.M. due to weather, and the host, No. 4 seed Binghamton came ready to succeed. Taking on the No. 5 seed NJIT Highlanders, the Green and Black were able to control the action throughout, eventually sweeping their way to a 4-0 win.
Binghamton won the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles matches to secure the point, and taking the momentum, the Bearcats quickly secured the match claiming the No. 6, 5 and 3 singles matches.
Junior Alexis Tashiro stood out for the Bearcats, winning the No. 1 doubles match with her partner Shea Brodsky in convincing 8-0 fashion. Tashiro would go on to win the match clinching point in the No. 3 singles against NJIT’s freshman Alba Rosas Garcia in straight sets (6-1, 6-0).
This year marks the 14th straight year that Binghamton has advanced to at least the championship semifinals.
The Bearcats had played NJIT just five days ago at home, and came out with a 7-0 win. Binghamton will play the top seeded Stony Brook Seawolves tomorrow in the first semifinal matchup at noon.
The University at Albany took on Hartford University in the second quarterfinal matchup. The Great Danes came out on top 4-0, and as a result they will take on the No. 2 UMBC Retrievers in the second semifinal matchup tomorrow.
The Purple and Gold saw their No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams secure the opening point of the match, and in singles, it was the No. 6, 5 and 2 matches that propelled them over the Hawks.
The top performer for Albany was sophomore Alba Sala. The Barcelona, Spain native teamed with senior Cheryl Kukkonen to win the No. 2 doubles match 8-2; then she would go on to clinch the Great Danes semifinal birth with a 6-0, 6-4 win in the No. 2 singles bout against Hartford’ Skyler Schaar.
This was the first time that Albany took on Hartford this season.
Full results from today’s two championship quarterfinals are listed below.
The semifinals will begin tomorrow at noon with No. 1 Stony Brook battling No. 4 Binghamton, then at 2 P.M., No. 2 UMBC will serve it up against No. 3 Albany.
The Seawolves bested the Bearcats earlier this season on April 4th, 5-2, while the Retrievers and Great Danes never matched up during the regular season.
RESULTS
Quarterfinal #1: No. 4 Binghamton 4, No. 5 NJIT 0
Doubles order of finish: 1,3
Brodsky/Tashiro, Bing def. Zanotta/Tasovac, NJIT 8-0
Habegger/Rosas, NJIT lead Ambrozy/Medianik, Bing 4-5
DiMuro/Kohtz, Bing def. Nowak Vujkovac, NJIT 8-1
Singles order of finish: 6,3,5
Medianik, Bing led Zanotta, NJIT 6-5
Kohtz, Bing led Habegger, NJIT 6-2, 4-1
Tashiro, Bing def. Rosas, NJIT 6-1, 6-0
Brodsky, Bing led Vujkovac, NJIT 6-3, 1-4
DiMuro, Bing def. Tasovac, NJIT 6-0, 6-3
Ambrozy, Bing def. Carroll, NJIT 6-0, 6-1
Quarterfinal #2: No. 3 Albany 4, No. 6 Hartford 0
Doubles order of finish: 3,2
Torres/Scott, Albany led Long/Schaar, Hartford 6-3
Kukkonen/Sala, Albany def. Sneddon/Heitland, Hartford 8-2
Hermans/Ognjenovic, Albany def. Goldman/G. Sabino, Hartford 8-0
Singles order of finish: 6,5,2
Hermans, Albany led Long, Hartford 6-3, 3-1
Sala, Albany def. Sneddon, Hartford 6-0, 6-4
Kukkonen, Albany led Schaar, Hartford 6-0, 5-2
Glumac, Albany led Heitland, Hartford 6-2, 5-1
Torres, Albany def. Makings, Hartford 6-0, 6-0
Scott, Albany def. Goldman, Hartford 6-0, 6-0