A two singles players and a doubles team from the Yellowjackets advanced to the second round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Championships this past weekend at William Smith College.
Sophomore Colleen Cross and freshman Jill Grieshaber teamed together to win their first round doubles match, defeating Betsy O’Brien and Angela Tessori of Nazareth College, 8-5.
Playing her first major collegiate tournament, Grieshaber admitted to a bout of uneasiness.
“I was really nervous, but the good thing about doubles is that you have someone out there with you to help calm you down,” Grieshaber said. “Colleen really helped me pull it together and get pumped up on the court.”
Grieshaber and Cross advanced to the second round to play the top-seeded team, Christine Contrafatto and Jackie Gavornik of The College of New Jersey. They lost to the tournament winners, 8-4.
“Our second match was really close,” Grieshaber said. “Colleen and I are playing well together, and we are constantly improving.”
“Jill and I played much better doubles at ITAs than in our first dual match,” Cross said. “We are still figuring out how to work together as a team but we played more aggressively than we have in the past.”
Cross also played in the singles draw, winning her first match against Whitney Bender of SUNY Utica, 6-0, 6-1. Cross, seeded tenth in the tournament, lost to Haley Kutner in round two, 6-1, 6-4. Cross was frustrated with her performance in singles.
“I think I definitely could have played better at the tournament, especially in singles,” Cross said. “I am disappointed with how it went, but at least I know exactly what I have to work on now.”
Senior and co-captain Jaymi Della also competed in the singles bracket, defeating Leigh Bryson of the Rochester Institute of Technology, 6-1, 7-5, in round one. She lost to SUNY Cortland’s Laurie Dorscheid, 6-0, 6-1, in the second round.
“My first match went really well,” Della said. “I definitely played more offensively than I have been playing, and I went for riskier shots.”
Sophomore Alexa Perry played an extremely close first match. She won the first set against Brianne Francisco of the RIT, 7-6 (7-5). Francisco evened things out in the second set, winning it 6-4, and sealed the win in a third set tie-breaker.
Women’s tennis will next host Nazareth College in a dual match, set to take place on Tuesday.
Sall can be reached at dsall@campustimes.org.
