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Skyhawks finish off NE10 Championship double for second-straight year
Vo clinched the match at #3 singles and earned Most Outstanding Player honors for the NE10 Championships |
WEYMOUTH, Mass. (October 27, 2019) – Third-seeded Stonehill College, ranked No. 4 in the most recent Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division II poll, clinched its second-straight Northeast-10 Conference Women's Tennis Championship and seventh in program history overall, with a 5-1 triumph over fourth-seeded Le Moyne College, ranked tenth in the East Region, at The Weymouth Club today.
Stonehill (12-3, 9-1 NE10) earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament next May with the win today, meaning the Skyhawks will compete in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth-straight year and 14th time in program history. Stonehill also won NE10 Tournament titles in 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. Le Moyne (13-4, 7-3 NE10) caps its fall season having reached the NE10 Championship match for the first time in program history after three-straight semifinal appearances, knocking off top-seeded Adelphi University in the semifinals on Friday.
Senior Alexandra Vo earned Most Outstanding Player honors of the NE10 Championship to headline three Stonehill players on the NE10's All-Championship Team. She was joined by sophomore Emma Markaryan and freshman Cristina Solorzano Valencia on the All-Championship team, along with Le Moyne sophomore Brooke Fernandez and freshman Marta Perez. Southern New Hampshire University freshman Isabella Andrade and Adelphi senior Nicole Stay round out the All-Championship Team from the semifinalists.
Antao was a double-winner for the Skyhawks at No. 3 doubles and No. 4 singles today |
Vo provided the match-clinching point for Stonehill, fending off Le Moyne freshman Francesca Lilliegren in three sets at No. 3 singles, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Markaryan wrapped up her match at No. 5 singles simultaneously, battling past Perez in three sets, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
Stonehill clinched the doubles point when Solorzano Valencia and senior Annelise Howick finished off a 6-3 decision at No. 2 after senior Caroline Ray and freshman Steffi Antao won at No. 3, 6-3.
Sophomore Samantha Ormesher gave Stonehill a quick 2-0 lead, winning the first singles point with her 6-0, 6-3 victory at No. 6 against Fernandez. Le Moyne junior Marta Nunez followed with a 6-3, 6-3 decision at No. 2 singles against Stonehill junior Isabelle Porter, and suddenly the momentum began to shift as the Dolphins took the second set in the remaining singles matches, after Stonehill had won the first in every match except No. 2.
Antao, a double-winner in her first NE10 Championship match for Stonehill, steadied the match by jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the third set and finished off a win at No. 4 singles against junior Rebecca Peters, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 to pull the Skyhawks within a point of the championship. Vo and Markaryan pinned down the title from there by responding with third set wins to clinch the title.
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