The College of New Jersey Athletics

Geneva, NY...The College of New Jersey women’s tennis team had an impressive opening day at the 2009 Wilson/ITA Northeast Championships on Friday as the Lions had all three doubles teams advance to the quarterfinals and three individuals remain alive in the championship bracket.

Tournament action resumes on Saturday with singles playing starting in the morning and the doubles competition picking up in the afternoon. TCNJ boasts three of the final eight teams in the doubles bracket.

The tournament opened with singles play and top-seeded Jackie Shtemberg (Franklin Lakes, NJ/Ramapo) got off to a fast start for TCNJ as the senior beat University of Rochester’s Alex Goodman by the scores of 6-0, 6-1. Shtemberg then handled Chelsea Ott from Moravian College by the score of 6-3, 7-6 to advance into Saturday’s action against 11th-seeded Deborah Barany of Hamilton College.

Fifth-seeded Felice Trinh (Linden, NJ/Linden) breezed past Hunter College’s Stephanie Smith in her opening match by the scores of 6-0, 6-1. She then played a familiar face in the second round taking on teammate Lauren Balsamo (Wall Township, NJ/Wall). Balsamo started with a 6-2, 7-5 win against St. Lawrence University’s Elizabeth Greer, before Trinh won the contest between the two Lions, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Trinh will next face 16th-seeded Liz Stachtiaris from New York University in the round of 16.

Ninth-seeded Paige Aiello (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) coasted past The College at Brockport’s Katelyn Richenberg in the first round before retiring with an injury in the next round against Moravian College’s Jamie Fein.

Freshman Karisse Bendijo (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Egg Harbor Township), who is seeded 12th, started the tournament with a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over Skidmore College’s Brittany Trimble and followed that up with 6-3, 6-3 victory against Gabriela Murphy-Goldberg from Mount St. Mary College.

Next up for Bendijo is second-seeded Frances Tseng from Rochester.

Christie Pollin (Mendham, NJ/Gil. St. Bernards) fell to Hunter’s Evgeniya Kim in the opening round by the score of 6-0, 6-1.

The Lions were perfect in doubles play as the top-seeded tandem of Shtemberg and Trinh cruised past Hamilton College’s Alex Arenson and Laura Brantley by the score of 8-0 and then disposed of Christy Alexander and Kelli Williams from Richard Stockton College.

Fourth-seeded Bendijo and Allison Tierney (Berkeley Heights, NJ/Governor Livingston) started with an 8-0 win over St. Lawrence’s Shannon Murphy and Elizabeth Edgar and then got to a 3-0 against a team from NYU before the Violet duo was forced to retire.

Sixth-seeded Balsamo and Emily Petersack (Mercerville, NJ/Notre Dame) claimed an 8-0 triumph against SUNY New Paltz’s Montana Wilson and Kayla DiPaulo and came right back to beat a duo from Hunter College by the count of 8-4 and advance into the quarterfinals.

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

The ITA National Small College Championships began in 1986 and annually crowns men’s and women’s singles and doubles national champions in each of the ITA’s four small college divisions (NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College). These championships are the only national tournaments for singles and doubles at the NCAA Division II and NAIA level, and the only tournaments that combine the levels of Junior/Community Colleges (NJCAA and the California schools). Participants are determined through these Wilson/ITA Regional Championships, which serve as qualifying tournaments. The national champions from each division square off in the “Super Bowl” of Small College Tennis to determine the overall ITA National Small College Champions (who then earn berths into the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, a Division I event, in November).

As the governing body of collegiate tennis the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which was founded in 1956 and is based in Skillman, N.J., administers numerous regional and national championships, the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit presented by the USTA, and the Campbell/ITA Rankings for men’s and women’s tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College. The ITA also has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership and sportsmanship.