The Cornell women’s tennis team traveled to the SUnity Life Tennis Classic in Syracuse with thoughts of a new season on it mind; it returned to Ithaca with several new sweatshirts to add to its wardrobe.
The Red came out on top in three of the six singles flights, and was victorious in two of three doubles competitions. Each winner was rewarded with a sweatshirt branded with the Syracuse University logo.
“It makes us feel great,” said freshman Kate Sternberg, who claimed the Flight Four singles crown, the Flight Two doubles championship with partner junior Becky Sendrow, and a pair of sweatshirts.
Sophomore Nicole Chiu won the Fight Five singles before teaming up with classmate Piper Lucas to take the Flight Three doubles.
“[The tournament] was like a confidence-builder,” Sendrow explained. “It gives us good experience for our dual matches.”
And in the Flight Six singles finals, Jenn Boyer pulled off a come-from-behind win over Syracuse Alexa Konstand, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3. The conclusion of the match, which started Saturday, was played only yesterday morning, due to a postponement caused by nightfall.
Boyer, who is just recovering from a recent case of mono, said about the delay, “It was perfect. Since I was still a little under the weather, it gave me a night to sleep on it.”
Though a number of teams competed, Cornell found itself in a class by itself.
“The only other decent team was Syracuse,” Sternberg declared, describing a field that inlcuded Colgate, Binghamton, Providence, and Albany in addition to the Orangewomen and the Red.
“It was probablly one of our easier fall [tournaments],” Sendrow added.
Aside from winning five of nine contests, the Red also displayed its dominance by placing several players in flight finals. Laura Leigh Tallent, Lisa Royce, and Alex DelPrete all finished as runners-up in their respective singles flights.
In addition, Royce and DelPrete lost to Sternberg and Chiu in their finals, respectively.
Head coach Angela Rudert was also afforded the opportunity to take along all of her players to Syracuse, but when the Red heads down to Penn for the Cissie Leary Invitational on the 22nd of this month, she will be forced to choose only her four best athletes.
Archived article by Shiva Nagaraj