The SUNY New Paltz Women’s Tennis team sent four athletes to Geneva, New York to play in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Regional tournament over the weekend, where the Hawks fought hard in games against top competition. Opponents played included recent foes The College of New Jersey, Vassar and NYU.
On the first day of the tournament, first-year Anya Bartek lost a close match to second-year Camila Ruiz Vegas of Rochester 7-5, 7-5 despite her best efforts. This seemed to spur the team on.
Fourth-year Trinity Chow’s play followed, she faced third-year Krisia Flores Gonzalez of Rensselaer. Chow won easily, nearly sweeping her opponent 6-1,6-1.
Third-year Onalee Batcheller was up next, hoping to ride the high of her teammates’ performances. Unfortunately this didn’t come to pass. She fell to Renneslaers third-year Alex Mednikova 6-0, 6-1.
After her rousing first match, Chow’s play earned her a spot in the second round of matches. She was paired off against first-year Jospehine Libby from Rochester.
The match ended in defeat sadly and Chow lost 6-2, 6-0 unable to recapture her earlier form.
Later in the day, Batcheller and fourth-year Alexandra Dratch played against a Skidmore of fourth-year Lily Feldman and fourth-year Chanhtel Thongphok to complete the doubles entanglements. It wasn’t much of a contest. The Skidmore contingent defeated Batcheller and Dratch handily 8-1.
Going into the second day there weren’t any more matches of value left for the Hawks after being knocked out of the tournament bracket. However, the team did have a round of consolation matches left to vindicate their talent.
Batcheller played first against Union College third-year Marilena Kardimou. She defeated the native Greek 8-3 to give herself a win during the weekend leaving with recovered confidence.
Chow, in her consolation match, faced first-year Chloe Hansen from recent opponents The College of New Jersey. Possibly channeling feelings of revenge, Chow beat Hansen 8-4.
Barteck played next, meeting Vassar’s freshman recruit Elyse Duley. Barteck succumbed 8-4 to Duley completing the trend of singles difficulty during this tournament.
New Paltz’s last match of the tournament proved to be its most thrilling. Dratch and Batcheller faced Ithaca College players first-year Lauren Rodriguez and third-year Becky Andrews. Dratch and Batcheller fell only after a brutal break point. Finishing the game 8-7 (12-10) the duo Rodriguez and Andrews must have cherished the hard fought victory.
The standout performer from the week was Chow. Coach Rob Bruley concurred when he said to Athletic Communications Intern Payton Malloy, “Trin could not have played any better.” New Paltz went against some of the best players and teams in the region so escaping with any wins is ideal. But Chow, now in her last year, truly rose to the occasion in comparison to her teammates.
New Paltz has next on their schedule Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Sept. 22nd and the New Paltz Scramble where they’ll host Union and Ramapo on the 24th.