Women's Tennis Advances To Conference Title Match
May 1, 2004 | Women's Tennis
NEW HAVEN, CT-The Terrier women's tennis team has advanced to its 10th straight America East Conference Tournament title match with a come-from-behind 4-2 win over Binghamton University on Saturday, May 1, at the Connecticut Tennis Center in New Haven, CT.
The top-seeded Terriers will meet Conference newcomer University of Maryland, Baltimore County on Sunday morning, May 2, at 9:00 a.m. for the conference title and a bid to the NCAA Division 1 Women's Tennis Tournament. The championship match was originally scheduled for noon, but the weather forecast for wet weather forced the Conference to move the match to 9:00 a.m.
UMBC earned a spot in the championship with a 4-1 win over Stony Brook on Saturday.
The Terriers, who have won the conference tournament title every year in which they have participated, earned wins at second, fourth, fifth, and sixth singles to defeat Binghamton.
The Bearcats took a 1-0 lead at the end of the doubles matches by virtue of their sweeping the three matches.
At number one, B.U. freshman Erin Katims (Boca Raton, FL) and sophomore Aimee Charest (Somerset, MA) lost to the Bearcats' Lya Kushnirovich and Janine Sadaka in a hard-fought match, 9-8. At number two, sophomore Laura Ahmes (Sarasota, FL) and senior Elisa Glas (Irun, Spain) dropped a tough 8-6 decision to Melis Altinay and Sherri Stern. Finally, at number three doubles, senior Elena deMendoza (Madrid, Spain) and sophomore Monica Shepherd (Austin, TX) lost to Vera Popova and Lauren Freel, 8-0.
The Terriers bounced back in singles, though, to end Binghamton's hopes of an upset by winning four of the five singles matches that were completed.
The number one singles match between deMendoza and Altinay was not completed as the Terriers had wrapped up the win by virtue of their four singles wins. DeMendoza did win the first set, 7-6, when it was discontinued.
Ahmes turned in the most impressive singles' win as she did not lose a game en route to a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Popova at number four. Charest and Shepherd lost just one game in two sets as they won their numbers five and six singles matches, respectively. Charest defeated Stern, while Shepherd eliminated Freel by identical 6-1, 6-0 scores. At number two singles, Katims defeated Kushnirovich, 6-2, 6-3. At number three singles, Glas lost a close match to Sadaka, 7-6, 6-4.
Since 1989, the Terriers have won the conference title 13 times. The only years in which they did not win the tournament were 1993 and 1998.
In 1993, the Terriers did not enter the tournament as they opted for the ECAC Tournament instead.
In 1998, there was no tournament conducted as the Conference had gone from holding its post-season competition from the fall to the spring. There was a tournament in the fall of 1997, but the fall of 1998 was bypassed in lieu of the tournament being held in the spring of 1999.
