The State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz women’s tennis team is defending their 2018 State University of New York Athletic Conference Championship (SUNYAC) title this season and began with force.
After playing a scrimmage against SUNY Cortland, Union College and SUNY Oneonta on Aug. 31, the Hawks emphasized how ready they were for their upcoming season, going 25-5 in single matches and 8-2 in doubles.
The women’s tennis team began their season with a solid start against SUNY Plattsburgh, winning the match 9-0.
Second-year Trinity Chow and second-year Laura Koob started the day off strong with an 8-0 defeat in doubles against the Cardinals’ doubles team. The next doubles team included fourth-year Victoria Zezula and third-year Jenna Grandville, who played a strong match and came out on top with a score of 8-2.
“I’m really excited about the start of this season,” team captain Zezula said. “We have a really strong team, which is great and we all have a consistent level of play across the line. A lot of us can hit with each other during practice. I think we have a really successful season coming up.”
First-year Onalee Batchellor and second-year Alexandra Dratch put on an impressive performance as well, winning 8-0, allowing Batchellor to secure her first collegiate victory.
Chow started off the Hawks’ singles matches strong with a victory, winning her sets 6-4 and 6-1, respectively. Koob was up next with a pair of winning sets to follow Chow, winning 6-1 and 6-1 to keep the Hawks on top. Zezula won her match with two shut-out sets of 6-0 to secure her singles win.
As singles continued, third-year Jenna Grandville came out with another win for the Hawks with two sets of 6-0 and 6-1, respectively. Batchellor also took home a victory winning both sets 6-1, kicking off her college career strong. Second-year Alex Chimenti completed the day with a victory and won her sets 6-1 and 6-0, respectively.
Zezula, Chow, Koob and Grandville all held great records for last season’s SUNYAC tournament, so, it is no surprise that they are coming out on top. Zezula finished last season with an overall record of 6-11 but a SUNYAC record of 6-1. Chow and Koob both finished 16-2 overall, but shut-out in their post season play with 6-0 and 8-0 records, respectively. Grandville finished 11-7 in the regular season, but 4-1 in postseason play.
Women’s tennis also received their first national rank in the last decade this past season. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released that SUNY New Paltz was ranked No. 19 in the northeast region, giving them even more fire beneath them to dominate this year.
The Hawks are back at Vassar College for the Vassar Scramble on Sept. 14 and 15 at 11 a.m. and 9 a.m.