BOX SCORE

Pine Valley, NY -- The Elmira College women's tennis team experienced something today that they had not experienced since September 10th, a loss. In a match that lasted nearly six hours, the Soaring Eagles fell to visiting Stevens Tech, 6-3, snapping their five match win streak. Today's loss also locked the Purple and Gold into the three seed in the Empire 8 Tournament, which begins on Saturday, October 18th in Hoboken, NJ.
 
The match was closely contested throughout the afternoon, starting with the three doubles matches. Stevens took a 1-0 lead after an 8-3 win at first doubles, but the second and third doubles would not come as easy for either team. Amy Schmidt '15, in the final regular season match of her career, and partner Rebecca Zeuschner '18 were in a battle at second doubles, as the two teams exchanged games back and forth. Trailing 8-7 with an opportunity to force a tiebreaker, the Soaring Eagles suffered a break of serve to fall 9-7 and put EC in a 2-0 hole.
 
Similar to second doubles, the matchup at third doubles was also coming down to the wire. Kayla Fitzgerald '15, who was also playing in the final regular season match of her career, and her sister Megan Fitzgerald '18 found themselves in a tiebreaker after the match score went to 8-8. Despite the tight set score, the Fitzgerald sisters rolled in the tiebreak, winning 7-1 to make it a 2-1 match heading into singles.
 
The Soaring Eagles quickly evened the match score after the start of singles play after Schmidt rolled to a 6-2, 6-1 win at the third spot. Besides Schmidt's victory, each of the other five singles matches went to three sets. First singles player Kimberly Salkin '18 took the first set of 2013 Empire 8 Player of the Year Jessica Bourque, but Bourque rebounded to take sets two and three, downing Salkin 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. EC fell behind 4-2 after Kayla Fitzgerald suffered a similar result at fourth singles. Fitzgerald took the first set, 6-4, but lost the next two, 3-6, 2-6, for just her second loss in singles of the season.
 
Elmira would not go away quietly, cutting Stevens' lead to 4-3 with an impressive three-set win from Ayaka Yoshino '16 at second singles. Yoshino lost the opening set 3-6 to Danielle Stewart, but the Yokohama, Japan native rebounded with 6-2 and 6-0 wins in the final two sets for the victory. With Yoshino's victory, the match would come down to the final two singles matches on the court at the fifth and sixth spots.
 
Playing in the fifth singles position for only the third time this season was Megan Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald took the first set 6-3, but fell in the second set 6-1. In the deciding third set, Fitzgerald would fall by one break, 6-3, which clinched the victory for the Ducks as Stevens took a 5-3 advantage. The final match, at sixth singles, was between Ellen Plowman'16 and Allie Masciana. Masciana took the first set 6-3, but Plowman responded with a 6-2 win in the second set. With the match already decided, the two would play a 10-point super-tiebreaker. Plowman would fall 10-4 in the tiebreaker, resulting in Elmira's 6-3 defeat.

In addition to Schmidt and Fitzgerald, the Purple and Gold also recognized the other two members of the Class of 2015, Megan Boisclair '15 and Eva Bouchard '15. The four seniors were paramount in the turnaround of the women's tennis program which has resulted in back-to-back Empire 8 Tournament appearances. 
 
The Soaring Eagles return to action next weekend as they compete in the New York State Women's Tennis Championships, hosted by Ithaca College. The individual tournament begins on Friday, October 10th and runs through Sunday, October 12th.
 
Singles Competition
1. Jessica Bourque (STEVENS) def. Kimberly Salkin (ELMIRA) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
2. Ayaka Yoshino (ELMIRA) def. Danielle Stewart (STEVENS) 3-6, 6-2, 6-0
3. Amy Schmidt (ELMIRA) def. Katrina Guido (STEVENS) 6-2, 6-1
4. Julia Guignard (STEVENS) def. Kayla Fitzgerald (ELMIRA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
5. Alexis Connor (STEVENS) def. Megan Fitzgerald (ELMIRA) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
6. Allie Masciana (STEVENS) def. Ellen Plowman (ELMIRA) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (10-4)

Doubles Competition
1. Bourque/Connor (STEVENS) def. Salkin/Yoshino (ELMIRA) 8-3
2. Stewart/Guido (STEVENS) def. Schmidt/Rebecca Zeuschner (ELMIRA) 9-7
3. Fitzgerald/Fitzgerald (ELMIRA) def. Julia Guignard/Allie Masciana (STEVENS) 9-8 (7-1)