Sept. 16, 2006
NEWPORT, R.I. - Three Stags advanced to the semifinals of their respective flights during Fairfield's first day of competition at the 2006 ECAC Women's Open Tennis Championships. Due to the Friday's soggy weather, today's matches were played at the St. George's School instead of the grass courts at the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
At second singles, freshman Paulina Rys (Forest Hills, N.Y./Kew-Forest School) defeated New Hampshire's Lauren Howard, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1, to advance to the semifinals. Rys will face Lehigh's Ariela Cohen tomorrow afternoon.
Rookie Diana Postupack (Kingston, N.Y./John A. Coleman) advanced to the semifinals of third singles with a victory against Niagara's Molly Matthews. Postupack will face Lehigh's Allison Schwartz tomorrow morning.
Freshman Michaela Cerrone (North Scituate, R.I./Mt. St. Charles) had one of the most exciting matches of the day as she pulled out the 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4 win against Lindsay Grossman of Colgate. Cerrone will face Rhode Island's Nyssa Peele tomorrow in the semifinals of the fourth singles.
At first singles, sophomore Marisa Voloshin (Woodbridge, Conn./Hopkins School) lost in the opening round to Lehigh's Gwen Dwyer, 6-3, 1-6, 1-6. Voloshin has one more match tomorrow as she takes on Colgate's Jackie Couture.
Fairfield's only doubles match, featuring Lauren Bonanno (Bradenton, Fla./St. Stephen's) and Alexis Accomando (Lilitz, Pa./The Hill School), was suspended. The duo will face Niagara's Jacquelyn Cary and Shella Dargout tomorrow at 9 a.m.
Fairfield is one of eight teams to compete in the championship. The other schools include Lehigh, last year's champion, Colgate, New Hampshire, Niagara, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rhode Island and Sacred Heart.
The championship features four flights of singles and one flight of doubles. Teams will begin with one point per each entry and will receive one point for each singles or doubles match won.
