Sparkill, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Women's Tennis team celebrated Senior Day, and then battled both mother nature and SUNY New Paltz on Wednesday afternoon, and came out on the winning side by defeating the visiting Hawks 4-0 in a rain-shortened affair at the Riley Family Tennis Courts.
STAC improves to 13-6 on the season, while SUNY New Paltz falls to 7-8.
Prior to the match, STAC honored Viktoriia Pavlovets, Alba Guijo, Jemima Parkinson and Samanta Villegas Robles with on-court ceremonies, which included their teammates, coaches and college administrators.
The Spartans opened the match, taking two-of-three doubles bouts to garner the first team point of the day. SUNY New Paltz however, was the the first victor in doubles, as No. 3 Tatiana Barnett & Nina Genzone beat the team of Elise Semmartin & Alba Guijo, 2-1, when STAC needed to bow out due to injury. The maroon and gold then claimed the final two matches, as No. 2 Elita Silins & Samanta Villegas Robles bested Onalee Batcheller & Isabel van der Veen, 6-2 and No. 1 Kateryna Kryuchkova & Viktoriia Pavlovets took down Justine Stanejko & Loretta Donovan, 6-4.
When the teams turned to singles action, St. Thomas Aquinas made quick work of the Hawks before the skies opened. No. 3 Samanta Villegas Robles shut out Isabel van der Veen, 6-0, 6-6-0 followed by No. 2 Elise Semmartin dispatching Onalee Batcheller 6-0, 6-2 and No. 4 Sun Zhouxuan defeating Tatiana Barnett 6-0, 6-2. With the match secured for STAC and rain falling, it was decided that the contest would come to an end out of an abundance of caution for the safety of the collegiate competitors.
SINGLES
Order of finish: 3, 2, 4*