Liberty League Tennis Championships set for May 2-3
TROY, N.Y. – The Liberty League men’s and women’s tennis championships will be held under a new format in 2015 as the top four teams in each gender will compete at a neutral-site venue for the right to represent the league in the NCAA Championship.
The Reis Tennis Center on the campus of Cornell University will serve as the host venue for the 2015 Liberty League Championships. Semifinal matches will be held on Saturday, May 2, followed by the championship matches on Sunday, May 3. The championship teams receive the Liberty League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships.
Prior to this season, all eight teams for both men and women competed in three-day tournaments held on separate weekends. With the move to a full round-robin schedule this spring, the championship field has been reduced to four teams, which were determined through regular-season play.
WOMEN: Skidmore College earned the number-one seed following a 7-0 record in Liberty League regular-season play. The Thoroughbreds, ranked 16th in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division III poll, are seeking their fifth consecutive Liberty League title. But this Skidmore lineup is vastly different than the one that defeated Vassar to capture the 2014 title. Only one player from last year’s singles lineup, senior Zoe Valella, is in Skidmore’s current singles lineup. In doubles, Valella and classmate Yumi Karlshoej are the only players that participated in doubles at last year’s championship. The Thoroughbreds have a young and talented lineup with five freshmen joining Valella in singles and four freshmen in the doubles lineup.
Vassar, ranked 22nd in the latest ITA poll, dropped a close 6-3 decision to Skidmore in early March for its only Liberty League loss (6-1). The Brewers boast one of the league’s top freshmen in Kate Christensen, who earned ITA All-America honors in the fall after capturing the ITA Northeast Championship and advancing to the semfinals of the ITA Division III Championship. Experience seniors Ava Sadeghi and Samantha Schapiro form one of the top doubles teams in the region while also playing second and third singles respectively. Sadeghi and Schapiro have each previously played in the number-one position in their Vassar careers.
Third-seeded St. Lawrence (5-2) and fourth-seeded RPI (4-3) round out the women’s field. St. Lawrence is led by senior Elkie Vandenbeemt at first singles. The doubles team of Vandenbeemt and Morgan McNeal has lost only once in Liberty League play, falling to Sadeghi and Schapiro on April 25. RPI is led by senior Casey Olsen at first singles along with the first doubles team of Emily Laurilliard and Melanie Frank.
MEN: Like the Skidmore women, the Skidmore men’s team (7-0 Liberty League) is seeking a repeat title after defeating RPI in the 2014 championship final. Also like the Skidmore women, the Skidmore men’s squad is vastly different from the one that captured last year’s title. The top five singles players from last year’s team that participated in the NCAA tournament are gone. Only sophomore Kai Yuen Leung, who played sixth singles for the Thoroughbreds in the NCAA tournament, is back in singles play. Leung has developed into one of the league’s top singles players and is currently unbeaten in Liberty League play. Skidmore junior Kit Sanderson has been a strong player in the number-two spot with freshmen Steven Koulouris, Lucas Pickering and Ted Berkowitz part of a roster that features no seniors. Junior Nick Tong, part of last season's championship team as a doubles player, rounds out a young lineup.
RPI (13-3, 6-1 Liberty League) enters the tournament as the second seed. The Engineers lost their top two singles players from last year, but sophomore McKinley Grimes has made the jump from number-four last season to the top of the singles lineup this year. Newcomers Tristan Wise and Alain Grullon Gonzalez join returnees Brandon Mazzara, Sherman Uyeno and Stephen Baxter in a balanced lineup.
Vassar (5-2) and Hobart (4-3) round out the men’s tournament field. Vassar returns its top three singles players from last year in sophomore Nick Litsky, and juniors Daniel Cooper and Christian Phelps. Litsky was unbeaten at first singles in Liberty League play, including a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Sanderson in an early-season match. Hobart clinched a spot in the tournament by virtue of a 5-4 win over St. Lawrence on April 12. The Statesmen trailed 3-0 after doubles, but rallied to win five of the six singles matches. Senior Michael Fields recorded a 3-set win at second singles in a pivotal match for Hobart. Sophomore Michael Rusk plays at number-one singles for the Statesmen.
Liberty League Championship results will be posted on this page shortly following each match. Results will also be posted on Twitter at @LLathletics.
LIBERTY LEAGUE MEN’S & WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
SATURDAY-SUNDAY, MAY 2-3 – REIS TENNIS CENTER, ITHACA, N.Y.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:
SATURDAY, MAY 2 – SEMIFINAL MATCHES:
9:00 a.m. – WOMEN - #1 Skidmore 5, #4 RPI 0 [
RESULTS]
12:00 p.m. – WOMEN - #2 Vassar 5, #3 St. Lawrence 1 [
RESULTS]
3:00 p.m. – MEN - #1 Skidmore 5, #4 Hobart 0 [
RESULTS]
6:00 p.m. – MEN - #2 RPI vs. #3 Vassar [
RESULTS]
SUNDAY, MAY 3 – CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES:
10:00 a.m. – Women’s Championship: #1 Skidmore vs. #2 Vassar [RESULTS]
2:00 p.m. – Men’s Championship: #1 Skidmore vs. #2 RPI [RESULTS]