March 18, 2008

Fort Myers, Fla. - Stony Brook's women's tennis team started its spring break trip to Florida on a disappointing note, dropping a close one that came down to the final singles match to Drake, 4-3. Senior Sandy Wijeratne (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) picked up a singles and a doubles win for the Seawolves.

It was Stony Brook that came up with the first point of the day, sweeping the top two doubles flights by 8-4 scores. Wins by the duos of sophomore Claudia Sanua (Bryanstron, South Africa) and junior Erica Federgreen (Scottsdale, Ariz.) at No. 1 and sophomore Paola Rodolfi (Asuncion, Paraguay) and Wijeratne at No. 2 put the Seawolves up 1-0.

With Drake defaulting the No. 6 singles match, Stony Brook had a 2-0 lead going into singles play. But Drake staged a comeback in singles action, taking four of the five matches to claim the come-from-behind win. Wijeratne picked up the lone singles victory for SBU, taking a 6-0, 6-2 win over Sarah Plowman at No. 4. The match came down to the No. 3 battle between Federgreen and Kari Sloboth. After dropping the first set, Federgreen battled back to capture the second to send the match to a deciding third set. Sloboth came up with the win, taking the match 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 to put the overall decision in the win column for the Bulldogs.

Stony Brook will continue its play in Florida today when it plays at Florida Gulf Coast at 2:00 p.m.

Drake 4, Stony Brook 3

Doubles

1. Sanua/Federgreen (SB) def. Leszayova/Plowman; 8-4

2. Rodolfi/Wijeratne (SB) def. Kalashnikova/Sloboth; 8-4

3. Vovsha/Murugan (SB) won by default

Singles

1. Veronika Leszayova (DU) def. Paola Rodolfi; 7-6 (3), 6-4

2. Irina Kalashnikova (DU) def. Claudia Sanua; 7-5, 6-1

3. Kari Sloboth (DU) def. Erica Federgreen; 6-1, 4-6, 6-2

4. Sandy Wijeratne (SB) def. Sarah Plowman; 6-0, 6-2

5. Daria Zawislak (DU) def. Victoria Vovsha; 6-2, 6-2

6. Shaina Murugan (SB) won by default