Geneva, NY...The College of New Jersey continued its run through the 2009 Wilson/ITA Northeast Regional Championship on Saturday as a handful of Lion women’s tennis players remained alive in the tournament.
TCNJ entered the middle of the two-day tournament hosted at William Smith College boasting three of the remaining eight doubles teams. The day got off to a good start as the tandem of Jackie Shtemberg (Franklin Lakes, NJ/Ramapo) and Felice Trinh (Linden, NJ/Linden) started with an 8-4 win over Alex Goodman and Danielle Shreck from the University of Rochester. The Lion duo then took on Skidmore College’s Danika Robison and Nataly Mendoza and posted an 8-5 triumph to move into the finals.
The pairing of Karisse Bendijo (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Egg Harbor Township) and Allison Tierney (Berkeley Heights, NJ/Governor Livingston) won 8-5 against Dani Fancher and Laura Attley of Skidmore. In the semifinals, TCNJ’s pair then took on Lia Weiner and Frances Tseng of Rochester, falling to the Yellowjacket pairing by a tough 9-7 score.
Weiner and Tseng advanced to that match by beating TCNJ’s Lauren Balsamo (Wall Township, NJ/Wall) and Emily Petersack (Mercerville, NJ/Notre Dame) 8-3.
Shtemberg and Trinh hope to score some revenge for their teammates as they will face Weiner and Tseng in Sunday’s finals.
The top-seeded Shtemberg opened Saturday’s singles action with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Deborah Barany of Hamilton College and then edged Ithaca College’s Cristina Cruz by the scores of 7-6 and 6-1. Next up for Shtemberg is third-seeded Weiner from the University of Rochester.
Trinh won her first match of the day beating New York University’s Liz Stachtiaris 7-5 and 6-3. Trinh then fell to Weiner in the quarterfinals (6-1, 6-0) as she finished the tournament with a mark of 3-1.
Bendijo also started the day with a win knocking off second-seeded Frances Tseng from Rochester by the scores of 7-5, 1-6, and 6-4. She then took on Evgeniya Kim in the quarterfinals and eliminated the sixth seed and advance into the semis, 6-0, 7-5. She will take on Robison on Sunday with a spot in the finals on the line.
In the singles consolation bracket, Christie Pollin (Mendham, NJ/Gil. St. Bernards) had a big day beating Sarah Hollis from Ithaca College and Cristina Gray from The Sage Colleges by identical 8-0 scores. Pollin then beat Skidmore College’s Brittany Trimble 8-3 to advance into the semifinals.