Porter was a double-winner for the Skyhawks and clinched the win at No. 3 singles for the second-straight postseason match (PHOTO BY Doug Monson/Stonehill Athletics)

Skyhawks advance to NE10 Championship match for seventh-straight year
Will face top-seeded Franklin Pierce in search of third-straight title, eighth overall

NE10 Women's Tennis Tournament Semifinal Recap

FLUSHING, N.Y. (April 30, 2021) – Third-seeded Stonehill College, ranked No. 5 in this week's NCAA Division II East Regional rankings and No. 8 in the most recent Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Region rankings, will play in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship match for the seventh-straight year and have a shot at a third-straight title after dispatching second-seeded Adelphi University, ranked 4 in the NCAA and ITA East Region rankings, 4-0 in an NE10 semifinal match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home of the US Open, today.

Stonehill (10-2, 8-2 NE10) will now visit top-seeded and NE10 regular season champions Franklin Pierce University (11-0, 9-0 NE10) for the NE10 Championship match on Sunday in Rindge, New Hampshire, at 1 p.m. The Skyhawks will be competing in the NE10 title match for the seventh-straight year and NE10 record 14^th time all-time and aims to capture its third-straight championship and the Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Skyhawks may have done enough with today's win to claim an at large bid, with the win over No. 4-ranked Adelphi, avenging a loss earlier in the season. Adelphi (10-2, 9-1 NE10) will now await its NCAA Tournament fate from the Division II Selection Committee when bids are released on Tuesday, May 4.

Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 2 in the NCAA II East Region rankings, reached the NE10 Championship match for the first time in program history with a 4-0 win over fourth-seeded Le Moyne College (8-3, 7-2 NE10), ranked No. 5 in the region, in today's second semifinal. 

Highlights

• Stonehill handed Adelphi it's first doubles loss of the season on the courts at any flight to secure the doubles point after winning at No. 3 by default.
• Senior Isabelle Porter was a double-winner to lead Stonehill and then provided the match-clinching point at No. 3 singles for the second-straight NE10 Tournament match.
• Sophomore Cristina Solorzano Valencia, ranked No. 6 in the Oracle/ITA Division II East Region singles rankings, knocked off her third regionally-ranked opponent of the season with her win at No. 1 singles against Adelphi senior Nicole Kielan, ranked No. 15 in the East.

Solorzano Valencia posted her third win of the season against a regionally-ranked opponent with her victory at No. 1 singles (PHOTO BY Doug Monson/Stonehill Athletics)

How it Happened

• Porter and junior Samantha Ormesher clinched the valuable doubles point for Stonehill by defeating Adelphi postgrad Nicole Stay and sophomore Amanda Franstedt, the No. 10-ranked doubles pairing in the East Region, 6-4 at No. 2.
• It marks Adelphi's first doubles loss by either of its top two pairings on the courts this spring, snapping a 22-0 combined record by the two prior to today.
• Stonehill carried a 2-0 lead into the singles matches, earning a point by default at No. 6 singles, and then Solorzano Valencia pulled the Skyhawks within a point of the victory with her 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Kielan at No. 1 singles.
• Porter then sent Stonehill through to Sunday's championship with her 6-3, 7-5 victory at No. 3 singles over Stay.

Noteworthy

• Stonehill was making its NE10 record 18^th semifinal appearance, competing in the NE10 Tournament for a record 22^nd time.
• Stonehill has won the NE10 Tournament Championship seven times, with titles in 2019, 2018, 2014, 2013 and 2009, to go with titles in 1991 and 1992 under the old flighted points system before the league switched to its present dual match tournament format in 1999.
• Porter has won her last four singles decisions, including the match-decider in three-straight, to improve to 4-1 in singles play this season. The four-time All-NE10 performer is now a combined 75-38 in singles and doubles play over her career, posting a 38-18 singles record to go with a 37-20 doubles mark over her four seasons.
• Porter and Ormesher improved to 7-2 as a tandem this season, bouncing back from a loss in Wednesday's quarterfinal and avenging a loss to Stay and Franstedt earlier in the season.
• Stonehill sophomore Steffi Antao held the lead in her match at No. 2 singles, up a set and tied 3-3 in the second, against Adelphi junior Barbie Quagliardi, the East Region's No. 2-ranked singles player and a former ITA East Regional Champion and 2019 NE10 Player of the Year.
• Stonehill avenged one of its two losses on the season (both back in March) with today's win over Adelphi and will look to do the same on Sunday in the NE10 Championship after Franklin Pierce handed the Skyhawks a 4-0 setback in Rindge, New Hampshire, back on March 17.

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