Feb. 21, 2009
West Point, N.Y. - After winning its first match of the spring earlier in the week, the Stony Brook women's tennis team continued its winning ways on Saturday with a pair of victories. First the Seawolves took a hard-fought 4-3 win over Army and then came back and defeated Connecticut, 7-0, in the afternoon to improve to 5-0 on the season.
In the first match of the day against Army, Stony Brook saw the Black Knights take the first point of the day with two wins in doubles play. Needing wins in four of the six singles matches to claim the win, the Seawolves got them with victories at Nos. 3-6. Freshman Katherine Hanson (Smithtown, N.Y.) got things going for SBU with an impressive 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 3 singles over Sarah Giles-Madden. At Nos. 5 and 6 freshmen Salome Mkervalidze (Brewster, N.Y.) and Anna Pieschl (Gothenburg, Sweden) also scored straight set victories to pull the Seawolves to within a point of the victory. Freshman Gayatri Krishnan (Chennai, India) that fought off Kristin Beehler in the first set before rolling in the second set to clinch the match with a 7-5, 6-1 win.
Stony Brook started its match with Connecticut by sweeping the doubles matches and never looked back. After the doubles sweep, the Seawolves dominated singles play as well, winning all of the singles matches in straight sets. Krishnan was especially impressive at No. 5, blanking Emily Searle, 6-0, 6-0. Pieschl, Mkervalidze and junior Paola Rodolfi (Asuncion, Paraguay) also won sets in their matches without dropping a game.
Stony Brook will return to action on Saturday, February 28 when it takes on America East foe Boston University in a match that will be played at Columbia University at 1:00 p.m.
Stony Brook 4, Army 3
Singles
1. Anne Houghton (A) def. Paola Rodolfi; 6-3, 6-1
2. Niki Flach (A) def. Prerana Appineni; 6-4, 6-2
3. Katherine Hanson (SB) def. Sarah Giles-Madden; 6-1, 6-0
4. Gayatri Krishnan (SB) def. Kristin Belcher; 7-5, 6-1
5. Salome Mkervalidze (SB) def. Caitlin Finnegan; 6-3, 6-1
6. Anna Pieschl (SB) def. Jurelle Mendoza; 6-4, 6-2
Doubles
1. Flach / Michael Tollenton (A) def. Hanson / Pieschl; 8-4
2. Houghton / Beecher (A) def. Rodolfi / Mkervalidze; 8-6
3. Appineni / Erica Federgreen (SB) def. Giles-Madden / Annie Hang; 8-5
Stony Brook 7, Connecticut 0
Singles
1. Paola Rodolfi (SB) def. Kelly LoRusso; 6-0, 6-2
2. Katherine Hanson (SB) def. Allison Campitiello; 6-1, 6-4
3. Prerana Appineni (SB) def. BreAnn Cheung; 6-4, 6-1
4. Salome Mkervalidze (SB) def. Katie Moritz; 6-3, 6-0
5. Gayatri Krishnan (SB) def. Emily Searle; 6-0, 6-0
6. Anna Pieschl (SB) def. Jennifer Marotta; 6-0, 6-1
Doubles
1. Appineni / Pieschl (SB) def. LoRusso / Campitiello; 8-5
2. Rodolfi / Mkervalidze (SB) def. Moritz / Cheung; 8-5
3. Hanson / Krishnan (SB) def. Marotta / Searle; 8-1
