Gators fall in opening-day action at ITA Regional

September 25, 2009

Gators fall in opening-day action at ITA Regional

Geneva, NY----The Sage Colleges women's tennis team was represented on Friday at the 2009 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Regional Championship on the campus of William Smith College. The three-day tournament will wrap on Sunday with the crowning of the singles and doubles champions in the 64-player singles' field and the 32-team doubles draw.

Taking to the courts for Sage were senior Christina Gray (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) and sophomore Erica Fitzgerald (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury).

Gray lost her opening round match to Skidmore College's senior Dani Fancher (St. Louis, MO/Ladue Horton Watkins), 6-1, 6-4. The loss for Gray snapped her 16-match singles' win streak which dated back to the beginning of September, 2008. Sage's sophomore Erica Fitzgerald (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) lost in the first round to Drew University's Michelle Gbelama, (Trenton, NJ/Trenton Central) 6-2, 6-1.

The pair dropped to the consolation bracket where they were in action.

In doubles action, Gray and Fitzgerald opened play facing Ithaca College's Melissa Nunez and Melanie Cohen, but fell 8-6. In the consolation doubles draw, the Gators fell 8-5 to Emily Gregory and Gabriela Murphy-Golberg of Mount Saint Mary.

Twenty colleges are represented in tournament play this weekend at William Smith College. The players represented in the competition are from; SUNY Brockport, SUNY Cortland, Drew, Hamilton, Hunter, Ithaca, Moravian, Mount Saint Mary, Nazareth, The College of New Jersey, SUNY New Paltz, New York University, Richard Stockton, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, The Sage Colleges, St. John Fisher, St. Lawrence, Skidmore, and William Smith College.

The Wilson/ITA Northeast Women's Championships at William Smith will feature the top NCAA Division III schools in the region. The singles and doubles champions from this weekend's tournament advance to the ITA National Small College Championships at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala., Oct. 15-18.