Women’s Tennis Steals 4-3 Victory from Fairleigh Dickinson
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The University at Albany women's tennis team pulled out an exciting 4-3 win over Fairleigh Dickinson University to finish the first month of their season 4-4. The Danes swept the doubles point with Kirsten Scott-Chassidy King (No. 1), Cheryl Kukkonen-Alba Sala (No. 2) and Mireille Hermans-Dajana Ognjenovic (No. 3), then got singles wins from King (No. 6), Scott (No. 5) and the match-clincher from Hermans (No. 2) in three sets.
Fairleigh Dickinson competed with only five players, so the Danes' wins at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles were by default. Kukkonen and Sala played their first match of the season together after leading the Danes in doubles last year. They clicked right from the start, clinching the doubles point, 6-3. At No. 1, the King-Scott combo sprinted to a 3-0 lead, lost four straight, then took the last three games to win 6-4.
With the doubles point secured and a default at number six, the Danes only needed two singles wins out of the five being contested; but UAlbany dropped the first sets at the top four positions. Only Scott (No. 5) won her first set. The senior co-captain won 11 straight games to go up 6-0,5-0. She lost the next three before closing it out and putting the Danes within one match of the win.
Both Ana Glumac (No. 3) and Sala (No. 4) lost in straight sets, making the match score 3-2, Danes. This put the team match outcome on the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches.
After losing their first sets quickly, Hermans (No. 2) and Ognjenovic (No. 1) fought back to take their second sets. Hermans jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third and then pulled within a game of the match, 5-2. But her FDU opponent refused to fold. At 5-3, Hermans had several straight match points, and fought her way back to take the match.
The Great Danes take to the road for the month of March with their first test coming next Saturday, March 7th, 7:00pm at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, NY against St. John's University.
Coach Graham: "This was a good win for us! Everybody fought hard for their matches, including the FDU team! It was a classic team battle in which both sides challenged the other, resulting in a close, hard fought college match. We played good doubles and Kirsten was dominant at #5. Both DJ and Mireille did a great job of turning their matches around after dropping their first set. And Mireille showed real mental toughness for letting a match-point 'sitter' get away from her, yet staying composed enough to then close out the match for the team win."
RESULTS:
Doubles:
1. Scott-King (UA) def. Castany-Krachok (FDU) 6-4
2. Kukkonen-Sala (UA) def. Chis-Pasricha (FDU) 6-3*
3. Hermans-Ognjenovic (UA) won be default (FDU had no #3 team)
Order of finish: 3,2,1
*= Clinched doubles point for UA.
Singles:
1. Nicole Chis (FDU) def. Dajana Ognjenovic (UA) 6-2,4-6,6-4
2. Mireille Hermans (UA) def. Shreya Pasricha (FDU) 1-6,6-3,6-4$$
3. Gisela Castany (FDU) def. Ana Glumac (UA) 6-4,6-2
4. Masha Krachok (FDU) def. Alba Sala (UA) 6-1,6-3
5. Kirsten Scott (UA) def. Alex Bryant (FDU) 6-0,6-3
6. Chassidy King (UA) won by default (FDU did not have #6 player)
Order of finish: 6,3,5,4,2,1.
$$=Clinched match for Great Danes.
UALBANY RECORDS: 4-4 (overall); 0-0 (America East)
