ITHACA, N.Y. – Second-seeded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute earned a 4-2 victory over top-seeded Vassar College to claim the program's first-ever Liberty League title Sunday at the Reis Tennis Center at Cornell University.
RPI (12-6) earned the Liberty League's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship, which starts next weekend. The Engineers knocked off defending champion Vassar (14-6), which suffered its first loss in 10 matches against league opponents this season.
RPI sophomore Victoria Sarabosing, who picked up singles and doubles victories in both the semifinal and championship matches, was named the tournament's Most Oustanding Player. Sarabosing clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-4 win at fourth singles.
The Engineers picked up the crucial doubles point to open the scoring. After the Vassar pair of Sieun Lee and Sara Lippin earned a 6-1 win at third doubles, RPI countered with a 6-4 win from Sarabosing and first-year Kayla Wheeler at number two. The RPI first doubles team of senior Nicole Ridenour and sophomore Anushka Jaiswal clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 win, giving the Engineers a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
RPI sophomore Neha Saraswatula put the Engineers up 2-0 after cruising to a 6-0, 6-1 win at sixth singles. Vassar knotted the match at 2-2 with wins at first and second singles by Erin McCusker and Iris Li respectively.
It was all RPI from there. Sophomore Juliette Ceas put together a 6-3, 6-3 straight-set victory. Sarabosing followed within minutes, breaking serve to go up 5-4 and then closing out the match with a strong service game.
The appearance in the championship match was also the first for RPI in 30-year history of the Liberty League championship.