ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College women's tennis team continues the 2016 Empire 8 Conference slate with a home match against the Bombers of Ithaca College. Today's bout inside the Murray Athletic Center in Pine Valley, New York, is scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start.

LAST TIME OUT: After opening the 2016 campaign with a 9-0 win over Penn College, the Soaring Eagles have hit a bit of a rough patch in their last three matches. Elmira suffered a 6-3 loss in its most recent match, a Sunday non-conference bout with Fredonia at the Murray Athletic Center. EC's three points came at first doubles, as well as first and second singles. Tilila El Yazidi '20 teamed up with Megan Fitzgerald '18 for an 8-0 win at the top doubles spot, before the two Soaring Eagles picked up straight set wins at first and second singles, respectively. 
 
E8 HONORS FOR EL YAZIDI: Rookie netter El Yazidi has had a phenomenal start to her collegiate career and has yet to taste defeat entering Thursday's matchup with Ithaca. She is 8-0 on the season with 4-0 records at both singles and doubles. Last week El Yazidi went 6-0 in three matches with conference wins over Houghton and Utica, all while playing at the top singles and doubles positions. For her efforts, El Yazidi was named the Empire 8 Conference Player of the Week.
 
FITZGERALD CONTINUES CLIMB: Not to be outdone by her freshman doubles partner, Fitzgerald has been just as impressive through the early stages of the 2016 season. Like El Yazidi, Fitzgerald is also 8-0 on the year with a quartet of wins in singles and doubles. She ascended to seventh place in EC history for career wins (42) and moved into a two-way tie for seventh place for career doubles wins (21). With eight additional wins this season, Fitzgerald will become the fifth player in program history to reach the 50-win plateau.

SCOUTING ITHACA: Ithaca College has been nothing short of dominant in conference play over the years and will look to continue that surge in the Bombers' final season as an E8 affiliate. Ithaca has won 11 consecutive conference titles and has dropped just two regular-season E8 matches in that time. This season has been much of the same for Ithaca, as the Bombers enter today's contest with an unblemished 2-0 record with both wins coming against Empire 8 opponents. Senior Haley Kusak '17 returns for her final season as the program's eighth all-time leader in career singles wins (44). Kusak, the reigning Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year, had an impressive showing at the Mary Hosking Invitational in Geneva, New York. Playing in the 'A' Flight Singles Tournament, Kusak won three consecutive matches en route to the finals of the tournament, before falling in a tiebreaker to Sravya Gudipudi of the University of Rochester.
 
SERIES HISTORY: Elmira and Ithaca have long history, one that has seen the two programs meet 21 times. The Bombers have won each of the 21 meetings.
 
UP NEXT: Following this evening's E8 bout with the Bombers, Elmira will welcome Liberty League affiliates Bard College and RIT to the Southern Tier for a pair of non-conference matches on Saturday, September 17th. EC will face Bard at 9:30 a.m., before concluding the day's play with a 4:30 p.m. contest against RIT. All matches will take place at the outdoor hard tennis courts at nearby Ernie Davis Academy with the Murray Athletic Center serving as the indoor backup in case of inclement weather.