Women's Tennis | 5/1/2019 11:29:00 AM
ROCHESTER, NY – The No. 4 seed RIT women's tennis team (12-5, 5-3 Liberty League) will take on No. 5 seed St. Lawrence University (9-7, 4-4 Liberty League) at 8:45 a.m. in a Liberty League First Round match from Cornell University's Reis Tennis Center on Friday, May 3.
No. 3 seed William Smith College (12-6, 6-2 Liberty League) will take on sixth-seeded Ithaca College (3-13, 3-5 Liberty League) Friday in the second first round match at 11:30 a.m. The winner of RIT/St. Lawrence will take on top-seed Skidmore (11-6, 8-0 Liberty League) in one semifinal at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday, May 4. Skidmore has won the last eight Liberty League Championships. The victor between William Smith and Ithaca will face No. 2 seed Vassar (13-6, 7-1 Liberty League) in the second semifinal at 11:30 a.m. The Liberty League Championship will take place on Sunday, May 5 at 10 a.m., with the winner earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Championships.
The Tigers are one win away from tying the program record for victories in a season (13), set in 1982. RIT's fourth, fifth and sixth singles standouts,
Kristen Zablonski (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park),
Claire Casalnova (Mars, PA/Pine Richland) and
Kirsten Auble (Portland, OR/Sunset) have combined for a 49-12 record. Auble (17-3) and Zablonski (17-4) have 17 victories apiece on the season, while Casalnova is 15-5. Auble and Casalnova have tied the school mark for dual wins in a season with 14.
Senior
Amelia Ying (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) will represent RIT at first singles and has 10 wins this season. Sophomore
Anne Taylor (Beaver, PA/Beaver) is 13-10 at second singles, while junior
Shayna Ginster (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) is 12-9, playing primarily at the third singles position.
At first doubles, Zablonski and Taylor have an impressive 16-8 mark. The second doubles duo of Ying and Ginster is 15-6 on the season and enters the tournament having won seven of its last nine matches. They have also tied RIT's single-season record with 13 wins in dual matches. RIT's third doubles duo of Casalnova and sophomore
Annie Steinbrink (Upper Dublin, PA/Upper Dublin) is 9-7 overall.
RIT and St. Lawrence met on April 20 in Canton, with the Tigers rallying from 4-2 down to win the final three singles matches and earn a 5-4 victory. Zablonski picked up a 6-3, 6-0 win over Maddie Nasch at fourth singles, before Casalnova won in three sets over Carly Jefferson at fifth singles. With the match on the line, Auble earned a three-set win over Marie Bank. Auble took the first set, 6-2 before Bank rallied to win set two, 7-5. Auble found another gear in the final set and rolled to a 6-2 win to give RIT the team victory.
