BOX SCORE

Hoboken, NJ -- The Elmira College women's tennis team will have to wait until next year for their first-ever Empire 8 Tournament Finals appearance as the Soaring Eagles were downed by nine-time defending conference champions Ithaca College, 5-2 in the Empire 8 Semifinals. With the loss, EC concludes the 2014 season with a 7-3 overall record which included a 6-2 mark in regular season Empire 8 Conference matches. 
 
The Purple and Gold were forced to alter their lineup a bit for today's semifinal match due to the absence of Kimberly Salkin'18, moving Amy Schmidt'15 up to first doubles with Ayaka Yoshino'16 and inserting Ellen Plowman'16 into both the third doubles and second singles spots.
 
EC found themselves behind 2-1 after doubles play, with their victory coming from the aforementioned first doubles team of Schmidt and Yoshino. The final doubles match on the court, Schmidt and Yoshino rode an early break to an 8-6 victory and put Elmira just one point behind Ithaca in the overall score.  
 
Ithaca made it a 3-1 match with a straight-set victory at fourth singles, but Megan Fitzgerald '18 answered with a dominating win at fifth singles to again cut EC's deficit to one at 3-2. Moving up to fifth singles for today's match did not faze Fitzgerald as she rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Ithaca's Maddie Overholt.
 
Four singles matches remained on the court, with Elmira needing wins from three of them to move onto tomorrow's final. Yoshino, Schmidt, and Kayla Fitzgerald all lost close first sets, but each player fought back in the second set and looked to force deciding third sets. Plowman, on the other hand, took her first set 6-3. Both Yoshino and Plowman ended up in third sets, but unfortunately for EC, neither player would be able to finish their match as losses by Schmidt and Fitzgerald sealed Elmira's 5-2 defeat.
 
Today's defeat marks the end of the 2014 season for the Purple and Gold. The Soaring Eagles will resume play during their spring season in a few months. 

Singles Competition
1. Carly Siegel (ITHACA) vs. Ayaka Yoshino (ELMIRA) 7-5, 3-6, unfinished
2. Allison Vizgaitis (ITHACA) def. Amy Schmidt (ELMIRA) 7-5, 6-2
3. Alyssa Steinweis (ITHACA) def. Kayla Fitzgerald (ELMIRA) 6-4, 6-2
4. Kelly Fishback (ITHACA) def. Rebecca Zeuschner (ELMIRA) 6-3, 6-0
5. Megan Fitzgerald (ELMIRA) def. Maddie Overholt (ITHACA) 6-1, 6-0
6. Jodi Grosberg (ITHACA) vs. Ellen Plowman (ELMIRA) 2-6, unfinished

Doubles Competition
1. Yoshino/Schmidt (ELMIRA) def. Haley Kusak/Siegel (ITHACA) 8-6
2. Vizgaitis/Overholt (ITHACA) def. Fitzgerald/Fitzgerald (ELMIRA) 8-3
3. Steinweis/Fishback (ITHACA) def. Plowman/Zeuschner (ELMIRA) 8-1