Barbetta aims to guide the Skyhawks to a second NE10 Tournament title over her four year career. |
Top-seeded Skyhawks hosts Dolphins at Watt Courts Friday at 1 p.m.
NE10 Women's Tennis Championship Central
EASTON, Mass. (October 27, 2017) – Top-seeded Stonehill College, ranked sixth in the most recent Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division II East Regional rankings, opens its bid for a Northeast-10 Conference Championship sweep for the third time in program history, with an NE10 semifinal matchup with fifth-seeded Le Moyne College at Charles Watt Tennis Courts on Friday at 1 p.m.
Admission for the NE10 Championship is free of charge, with live results available via stonehillskyhawks.com and updates on Twitter from @GoStonehill. In the event of inclement weather, the match will be played at The Weymouth Club in Weymouth, Massachusetts. The winner of tomorrow's match will advance to Sunday's NE10 Championship match to face the winner of tomorrow's other semifinal between third-seeded Southern New Hampshire University (11-3, 9-3 NE10) and second-seeded Adelphi University (12-1, 11-1 NE10) being played in Garden City, New York. Sunday's championship match will be hosted by the highest remaining seed at 1 p.m.
Stonehill (13-0, 12-0 NE-10), which is making its NE10 record 19th NE-10 Tournament appearance, won its eighth NE10 regular season title by running undefeated through the Conference circuit for the fifth time in program history. The Skyhawks seek a return to the NE10 Championship match for the fourth-straight year and 12th time overall, having reached the final eight times over the last nine seasons. Stonehill last won the postseason championship in 2014, while also claiming titles in 2013 and 2009, to go with championships in 1991 and 1992 under the old flights points system before the league switched to its present dual match format in 1999. The Skyhawks last won both the regular season and tournament titles in 2009, having swept three times in program history, overall.
Le Moyne (13-4, 8-4 NE10) advanced to Friday's semifinal round with a 5-4 upset of fourth-seeded Assumption College in Wednesday's first round. The Dolphins overcame a 2-1 deficit after doubles play by winning four singles matches. Freshman Marta Nunez (Rye, New York/Antonio Lopez (Spain)) posted both singles and doubles wins for Le Moyne, including the decisive fifth point with her 6-0, 5-7, 6-0 victory at No. 5 singles. It marks the first time the Dolphins have reached the NE10 semifinal round in nine tournament appearances.
O'Donnell also aims to cap her collegiate career with two NE10 Tournament crowns. |
NE10 Coach of the Year Marc Maloney brings seven All-NE10 performers into the NE10 Tournament, including six who earned first team honors. Sophomore Alexandra Vo (Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania/Nazareth Academy) earned All-NE10 first team honors at No. 2 singles and doubles this fall, the latter coming along with classmate Annelise Howick (Jacksonville, Florida/Creekside). Vo is a combined 29-3 in singles and doubles play this fall, posting a 12-1 doubles mark with Howick, including 11-1 NE10 play, winning all seven matches at No. 2. Vo has posted a 15-1 singles record this season, including 11-0 in the NE10 to improve to 23-0 in two seasons in Conference singles matches.
Senior Colleen O'Donnell (Waterville, Maine/Waterville) also earned All-NE10 honors for both singles and doubles this fall, earning first team honors at No. 3 doubles with freshman Bethany Hammond (Belgrade, Maine/St. Dominic's) and second team honors at No. 5 singles. O'Donnell is a combined 18-1 in singles and doubles play this season, with she and Hammond winning all eight of their matches, including seven in NE10 play. O'Donnell has posted an 8-1 singles record, including 7-1 in the NE10 to improve to 26-1 over her career in Conference singles matches.
Senior captain Victoria Barbetta (Wesley Chapel, Florida/Saddlebrook Prep) and freshman Isabelle Porter (Jupiter, Florida/William T. Dwyer) round out the top half of Stonehill's lineup and are expected to compete at No. 1 doubles after the semifinals of the ITA East Regional, having posted an 8-3 record as a team this season, including 3-2 in the NE10. Barbetta is a combined 18-11 in singles and doubles play this season overall and will compete at No. 1 singles on Friday.
Porter, a first team All-NE10 performer at No. 3 singles and an NE10 All-Rookie team selection, is a combined 21-4 in singles and doubles play in her first collegiate season. She has posted a 13-1 singles record, winning all eight of her NE10 matches this season. Junior Nicole Downey (Groveland, Massachusetts/Pentucket Regional) is a third team All-NE10 honoree at No. 4 singles for the Skyhawks, having posted a 12-4 record this fall, including 9-3 in the NE10. She has a career record of 27-4 in NE10 singles matches.
Senior Emma Prinos (Foxborough, Massachusetts/Foxborough), five-time All-NE10 honoree who earned first team honors at No. 6 singles this fall, and freshman Kate Cunningham (Somerset, England/IMG Academy) will vie for the final spot in Stonehill's lineup. Prinos has won all five of her singles matches this season and has posted a 40-22 career singles mark, including 30-4 in the NE10. Cunningham has competed at No. 3-6 singles after a late start to her first collegiate season, having posted a 7-1 record overall.
Vo will compete at No. 2 singles and doubles on Friday. |
Le Moyne's anticipated lineup features just one All-NE10 performer, with Nunez earning first team honors at No. 5 singles. She is a combined 29-9 in singles and doubles play in her first collegiate season, posting an 18-2 singles record, including 11-1 in the NE10 and winning all 13 of her matches at No. 5.
Senior Rithika Vajjiravelu (Chennai, India) competes at No. 1 singles and teams up with classmate Amica Benoit-Limosani (Mont-Saint-Hillaire, Quebec) at No. 1 doubles. Vajjiravelu has posted a 10-7 singles record this fall, including 4-5 in the NE10, to go with a 5-6 doubles record with Benoit-Limosani, including 3-3 in the NE10. Benoit-Limosani is 12-5 in singles play, including 7-3 in the NE10, while freshmen Caroline St. Antoine (Longueuil, Quebec) and Camila Humala (Lima, Peru) own winning singles records as well.
Stonehill cruised to an 8-1 win over Le Moyne in the regular season matchup between the two on October 15 in Syracuse, New York. Barbetta led Stonehill to the gutsy win in a match that started nearly 12 hours upon the conclusion of a six-hour marathon home win over Assumption the night before. She recorded her 100th career collegiate win when she combined with Cunningham for an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles, to clinch a sweep of the three doubles matches, before adding a 6-1, 6-0 triumph at No. 1 singles against Vajjiravelu. Cunningham also won two points for Stonehill as she added a 7-5, 6-2 win at No. 4 singles against St. Antoine. Nunez earned Le Moyne's only point as she handed O'Donnell the only NE10 singles loss of her career (25-1), rallying from a set down to take the match in a third-set tiebreaker, 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 at No. 5 singles.
Stonehill and Le Moyne are meeting in the NE10 Tournament for the second time in three seasons after the Skyhawks posted a 5-1 triumph over the Dolphins in the first round of the 2015 Tournament at Watt Courts. Barbetta and Downey were double-winners for third-seeded Stonehill in the win against the No. 6-seed.
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2017 Northeast-10 Conference
Women's Tennis Tournament
First Round
Wednesday, October 25
#3 Southern New Hampshire 5, #6 Merrimack 0
#5 Le Moyne 5, #4 Assumption 4
Semifinal
Friday, October 27
#3 Southern New Hampshire (11-3, 9-2 NE10) at #2 Adelphi (12-1, 11-1 NE10), 1 p.m.
#5 Le Moyne (13-4, 8-4 NE10) at #1 Stonehill (13-0, 12-0 NE10), 1 p.m.
Championship
Sunday, October 29
Semifinal winners at highest remaining seed, 1 p.m.
