Porter is set to lead the Skyhawks into the NCAA Tournament for the third time over her career (PHOTO BY Doug Monson/Stonehill Athletics) |
Fourth-seeded Skyhawks to battle top-seeded and nationally-ranked Clippers in NCAA East Regional, hosted by Queens College
EASTON, Mass. (May 9, 2021) – Fourth-seeded Stonehill College will battle top-seeded Concordia (N.Y.) College, ranked No. 28 in this week's Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division II National Rankings, in an East Regional semifinal of the 2021 NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Tournament, hosted by Queens (N.Y.) College at the Queens Tennis Center in Flushing, New York, on Monday at 5 p.m.
Spectators will not be permitted at the NCAA East Regional site, but the matches will be available to view online via the Queens College streaming portal on the ECC Network, with links available via stonehillskyhawks.com. Monday evening's winner will advance to Tuesday's East Region championship match to face the winner of Monday's opening match between second-seeded and No. 48-ranked Franklin Pierce University (12-0, 9-0 NE10) and host Queens (3-1, 1-1 ECC), seeded third and ranked No. 42 nationally, set to serve at 1 p.m. Tuesday's East Region champion will advance to the 2021 NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championships at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex, in Surprise, Arizona, May 19-21.
Stonehill is participating in its seventh-straight NCAA Tournament, having earned the region's lone at-large bid for the 15th NCAA Tournament trip in program history overall. The Skyhawks, who have earned a bid to the national tournament for the 12th time over the last 13 years, had earned the Northeast-10 Conference's automatic bid to last year's event, that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stonehill is one of two NE10 programs at the four-team regional this weekend, joining the Conference's regular season and tournament champions Franklin Pierce, who held off the Skyhawks in the NE10 Championship match last weekend, 4-2.
Stonehill, under the direction of first-year head coach Lynne Smith, brings a lineup that includes four All-NE10 singles performers and two All-NE10 doubles pairings, including regionally-ranked sophomore Cristina Solorzano Valencia a three-time All-NE10 performer after earning third team honors at No. 1 singles this spring and is ranked No. 6 in the most recent Oracle/ITA Division II East Region singles rankings. She has posted a 14-4 combined record in singles and doubles play, including a 7-1 singles record (5-1 NE10), having won her last six decisions including three wins (3-0) over regionally-ranked opponents and victories over the current and a past NE10 Player of the Year. Solorzano Valencia and classmate Steffi Antao have combined to post a 6-2 record this spring at No. 1 doubles for the Skyhawks, splitting two matches against regionally-ranked opposition and winning their last six decisions.
Juniors Emma Markaryan and Samantha Ormesher and sophomore Lily Peter all earned All-NE10 honors for both singles and doubles play this spring. Peter and Markaryan were voted to the first team at No. 3 doubles, having posted a 4-2 mark this season, including 4-0 in the NE10, while Peter was selected to the second team at No. 6 singles with a 3-2 mark, including 3-1 in the NE10. Markaryan, a four-time All-NE10 performer in her career was also voted to the third team at No. 4 singles and has won her last seven decisions and is 9-1 overall, including 7-1 in the NE10, having posted a career singles record of 36-9, including 26-2 in NE10 play.
Ormesher, a five-time All-NE10 performer who received the NE10's Elite 24 Award for having the highest cumulative grade point average among the two teams at last weekend's NE10 Championship match, earned third team honors this spring at No. 5 singles as well as No. 2 doubles with senior Isabelle Porter. Ormesher is 6-1 this season in singles, winning her last six decisions, while she and Porter are 7-3 as a team, including 6-1 in the NE10, this spring.
Solorzano Valencia will make her NCAA Tournament debut for the Skyhawks on Monday, leading the way at No. 1 singles and doubles (PHOTO BY Doug Monson/Stonehill Athletics) |
Stonehill Projected Lineup
#1 Singles: Cristina Solorzano Valencia (Morelia, Mexico/Weil Tennis Academy & Preparatory School (Calif.))
Overall: 7-1 vs. NE10: 5-1 #1 Singles: 7-1
Career NCAA Tournament: First Official Appearance
#2 Singles: Steffi Antao (New Hyde Park, New York/New Hyde Park Memorial)
Overall: 5-3 vs. NE10: 4-2 #2 Singles: 5-3
Career NCAA Tournament: First Official Appearance
#3 Singles: Isabelle Porter (Jupiter, Florida/William T. Dwyer)
Overall: 4-2 vs. NE10: 2-1 #3 Singles: 4-2
Career NCAA Tournament: Third Official Appearance
1-2 Overall / 1-1 Singles / 0-1 Doubles
#4 Singles: Emma Markaryan (Palm Beach Gardens, Florida/Suncoast)
Overall: 9-1 vs. NE10: 7-1 #4 Singles: 7-1
Career NCAA Tournament: Second Official Appearance
0-1 Overall / 0-1 Singles / 0-0 Doubles
#5 Singles: Samantha Ormesher (Toronto, Ontario/Loretto Abbey Catholic School)
Overall: 6-1 vs. NE10: 5-1 #5 Singles: 6-0
Career NCAA Tournament: Second Official Appearance
0-1 Overall / 0-1 Singles / 0-0 Doubles
#6 Singles: Lily Peter (Weymouth, Massachusetts/Weymouth)
Overall: 3-2 vs. NE10: 3-1 #6 Singles: 2-2
Career NCAA Tournament: First Official Appearance
#1 Doubles: Solorzano Valencia/Antao
Overall: 6-2 vs. NE10: 6-2 #1 Doubles: 6-2
Career NCAA Tournament: No results
#2 Doubles: Porter/Ormesher
Overall: 7-3 vs. NE10: 6-1 #2 Doubles: 7-3
Career NCAA Tournament: No Results
Porter Career Doubles: 0-1 / Ormesher Career Doubles: 0-0
#3 Doubles: Markaryan/Peter
Overall: 4-2 vs. NE10: 4-0 #3 Doubles: 4-2
Career NCAA Tournament: No Results
Markaryan Career Doubles: 0-0
Ormesher will compete in her second NCAA Tournament and has won her last six singles matches (PHOTO BY Doug Monson/Stonehill Athletics) |
Concordia, under the direction of head coach Neil Tarangioli for the ninth year, enters the NCAA Tournament with an unbeaten mark, having captured the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) regular season and tournament titles. The Clippers have dropped just one point all season, posting a 4-0 victory over Chestnut Hill University in the CACC Championship on April 25 to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Concordia is 41-1 in singles play this spring, to go with a 20-1 doubles mark. Sophomore Ebba Rosberg, already a two-time CACC Player of the Year, is ranked No. 13 in this week's Oracle/ITA Division II Singles rankings. She is a combined 13-0 in singles and doubles play this season, winning all six of her matches at No. 1 to go with a 7-0 doubles mark with two different playing partners. She and classmate Paula Palero have teamed up for a 6-0 record this spring, including 4-0 at No. 2 doubles.
Palero is ranked No. 12 in the most recent East Region singles rankings and is a combined 10-0 in singles and doubles, with a 4-0 singles mark, having been spotted at No. 2, 3 and 4. Senior Angelica Karlsson Hantzis is ranked ninth in the region with a combined 7-0 mark in singles and doubles, including 3-0 at No. 2 singles and 4-0 in doubles with senior Josefina Torres Martin at No. 1 doubles. The duo is the No. 3-ranked doubles tandem in the region, while Torres Martin is ranked 19th in the East singles rankings. She is 3-0 this spring at No. 3 singles, but is slated to line up Monday at No. 5.
Concordia Projected Lineup
#1 Singles: Ebba Rosberg (Stockholm, Sweden)
Overall: 6-0 vs. CACC: 5-0 #1 Singles: 6-0
#2 Singles: Tamara Erakovic (Belgrade, Serbia)
Overall: 6-0 vs. CACC: 5-0 #2 Singles: 3-0
#3 Singles: Angelica Karlsson Hantzis (Malaga, Spain)
Overall: 3-0 vs. CACC: 1-0 #3 Singles: 0-0
#4 Singles: Paula Palero (Cullera, Spain)
Overall: 4-0 vs. CACC: 2-0 #4 Singles: 1-0
#5 Singles: Josefina Torres Martin (Miami, Florida/G. Holmes Braddock)
Overall: 3-0 vs. CACC: 3-0 #5 Singles: 0-0
#6 Singles: Ann Kathrin Wirlitsch (Dresden, Germany)
Overall: 5-0 vs. CACC: 4-0 #6 Singles: 0-0
#1 Doubles: Karlsson Hantzis/Torres Martin
Overall: 4-0 vs. CACC: 2-0 #1 Doubles: 4-0
#2 Doubles: Rosberg/Palero
Overall: 6-0 vs. CACC: 4-0 #2 Doubles: 4-0
#3 Doubles: Erakovic/Wirlitsch
Overall: 3-1 vs. CACC: 3-1 #3 Doubles: 3-1
Markaryan also makes her second NCAA Tournament appearance and has won seven-straight singles decisions (PHOTO BY Meg Stokes/Franklin Pierce Athletics) |
Tomorrow marks the fourth NCAA Tournament meeting between these two programs, but the first since 2016. Concordia has won each of the first three NCAA matchups between the two, including a 5-1 victory at Queens in the first round in 2016. Annelise Kump, '16 and Victoria Barbetta, '18 earned the Skyhawks point with their 8-6 decision at No. 2 doubles. Constanza Mecchi and Kaja Tegtmeier were double-winners for the Clippers in the match. Stonehill and Concordia and met in the first round in 2012 (5-3 Concordia win) and second round in 2010 (5-1 Concordia Win), with both of those matches at Charles Watt Tennis Courts in Easton.
For the latest on Stonehill Athletics, follow the Skyhawks via social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Fans can also download the Stonehill Skyhawks "Front Row" mobile app, powered by PrestoSports, on iTunes and the Android Market.
2021 NCAA Division II Women's Tennis East Regional
Hosted by Queens (N.Y.) College, Flushing, New York
Monday, May 10
#2 Franklin Pierce (12-0, 9-0 NE10) at #2 Queens (3-1, 1-1 ECC), 1 p.m.
#4 Stonehill (10-3, 8-2 NE10) vs. #1 Concordia (8-0, 5-0 CACC), 5 p.m.
Tuesday, May 11
Regional semifinal winners, 1 p.m.
2021 NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championships
Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex, Surprise, Arizona, May 19-21
