WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (Sept. 11, 2021) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's tennis team produced a solid showing in the first day of the Middle Atlantic Conference Individual Championships as eight of the 10 total competitors in the tournament advanced to the semifinal round Saturday at the Ralston Athletic Complex.
The Ducks put each of the top six singles student-athletes and two of their three doubles teammates into the semifinals with impressive performances on the court in the first and quarterfinal rounds. All eight will now look to capture MAC Individual titles in their respective competitions on Sunday after winning four total championships in the tournament in 2019.
In total, Stevens won eight singles matches on the day, all in straight sets.
Senior
Agatha Malinowski played at line one singles as the No. 2 overall seed and took down Kasi Conjack of Messiah University in a perfect 6-0, 6-0 win and then defeated Leah Bouchard of Alvernia University 6-3, 6-0 to move on to the semifinals where she will take on Kirsten Kosa of DeSales.
At line two, No. 1 junior
Audrey Heaberlin made quick work of Hood University's Josephine Sasse in a 6-1, 6-1 win in the first round. She found more resistance against Kayla Dello Iacono of FDU-Florham in the quarters but ultimately came away with a 6-2, 7-5 win to advance and face off with Wilkes University's Zoe Klein.
Senior
Alexis Fuda, first-years Polina Odentseva and
Isabella Dona and junior
Juliette Marchisio were all also No. 1 seeds in their respective brackets and all earned a bye in their opening round contest as a result.
Playing at line three, Fuda took down Madison Poladian of Lebanon Valley College 6-1, 6-1 and will take on No. 4 seed Brianna Rohrer of York in the semifinals.
Just behind her at line four, Odentseva had perhaps the most impressive performance of the day with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Lycoming's Haley Seebold in the quarters. Her matchup against Misericordia's Lydia Barbour in the semifinals will feature two student-athletes who have yet to lose a point in the competition.
Dona took on Morrissey Walsh of York College at line five and was able to grab a hard-fought 7-5, 6-3 win. She now takes on Rei Saar of Lycoming with a spot in the championship match on the line.
At line six, Marchisio came off of her bye and picked a stress-free 6-1, 6-1 victory over York's Kelsey Sheets. Marchisio now matches up against Lauren Visalli of Misericordia in the semifinals.
First-year
Emily Johannan rounded out the singles competitors for the Ducks, falling 6-2, 6-4 to Wilkes University's Sydney Farmer at line seven.
In doubles play, Heaberlin and Marchisio, playing as the No. 2 seed, made quick work of Iacono and Cronkhite in the first round with an 8-1 win. In the quarters, the duo was pushed near the brink but ultimately defeated Misericordia's Loughlin and Visalli to advance to meet Greco and Landau of DeSales in the semis.
Odintseva and Fuda were the top seed at flight three and therefore earned a bye in the opening round. The duo then waltz past Wyszkowski and Bertrand of Arcadia for a 8-0 victory. They will now face off with Barbour and Benderavich of Misericordia in the semifinal.
Malinowski and Dona fell to Yakhins and Klein of Wilkes at flight one 8-6 in the first round to round out the doubles teams.
In total, the eight semifinalists tied Wilkes for the most in the competition. The Ducks will look to improve on their last trip to the Individual Championships in 2019 that saw 10 finalists and four titles.
The championship concludes Sunday starting at 9:00 a.m. beginning with the semifinal round of doubles followed by the semis of singles. The day concludes with the singles championships followed up by the doubles to round out the tournament.
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