Junior Jennifer Denyes reached the B singles bracket final, marking the third-straight year a Skyhawk has advanced to the B final. |
Skyhawks junior reaches B singles bracket finals, B doubles quarterfinal
Junior Jennifer Denyes (Bradenton, Fla./St. Stephens Episcopal) led the way for Stonehill by reaching the final match of the B singles bracket before being topped by Goldey-Beacom College freshman Anastasia Melnikova, 8-0, for the B singles title. It marks the third-straight year a Stonehill woman has reached the B championship match, with junior Paige Frost (Brigantine, N.J./Holy Spirit), who is spending the fall semester studying abroad, winning the title in 2010 and senior Leah White (Walpole, Mass./Bishop Feehan) winning the bracket in 2009.
Denyes opened the bracket with an 8-1 win over University of District of Columbia junior Tadai Abilla before topping University of the Sciences junior Juliet Choi, 8-2, in the second round. She followed with an 8-2 victory over Goldey-Beacom junior Vanessa Leon in the round of 16, before defeating Southern New Hampshire University senior Kara Pease in the quarterfinals. Denyes opened play on Monday with an 8-3 victory over Goldey-Beacom sophomore Gabriela Chaves in the semifinals before facing Melnikova.
Denyes combined with freshman Meryl Lawrence (North Scituate, Mass./Mount Saint Charles Academy) to reach the B doubles quarterfinals. After receiving a first round bye, they opened with an 8-3 victory over USP's Choi and Laney Jones. They followed that up with an 8-3 win over Merrimack College's Mollie Fitzgerald and Kara Hole, before falling to Kara Murphy and Rachael Litton from Bentley University in the quarters, 8-6.
Lawrence advanced to the quarterfinal round of the B singles bracket before falling to Chaves from Goldey-Beacom, 8-4. Lawrence opened by blanking Georgian Court University senior Jen Targaglia in her first collegiate match before posting an 8-0 win over LIU-C.W. Post junior Katie Avelar in the second round. Lawrence defeated Bentley's Rachael Litton, 8-4 in the round of 16 before being defeated by Chaves.
White and fellow senior Amy Toegemann (Narragansett, R.I./The Lincoln School) both received first round byes in the A singles championship bracket before being defeated in the second round. Georgian Court freshman Maria Leah defeated White, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, while Toegemann fell to Goldey-Beacom junior Bianca Sancho, 6-2, 7-5. The pair was also edged in the second round of the B doubles bracket, 9-7, by Maria Parapouras and Morgan Oechsle from Chestnut Hill College after receiving a first round bye.
Freshman Katie Gilligan (Wakefield, R.I./The Prout School) advanced to the round of 16 of the B singles bracket in her first collegiate event. She posted an 8-5 win over Philadelphia University sophomore Elizabeth Verbits, before defeating USP sophomore Michelle Adamzyk in the second round, 8-1. She was defeated by Melnikova, 8-4, who went on to defeat Denyes in the B final.
Gilligan and sophomore Kaitlyn Martin (Medway, Mass./Medway) posted an 8-4 victory over Chestnut Hill's Danielle Knott and Alexis Puhl in the first round of the B doubles bracket before being defeated by Juliana Frey and Ana Mendes from Concordia (N.Y.) College in the second round. Martin was defeated by Oechsle of Chestnut Hill in the first round of the B singles draw, 8-6.
Stonehill (0-0, 0-0 NE-10) visits The College of Holy Cross for its first dual match of the season on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The Skyhawks first home match is Sunday when it hosts Franklin Pierce University for its Northeast-10 Conference opener at Charles Watt Tennis Courts at 11 a.m.
