Complete Results
Geneva, NY...The tandem of senior of Jackie Shtemberg (Franklin Lakes, NJ/Ramapo) and sophomore Felice Trinh (Linden, NJ/Linden) won the doubles title at the 2009 Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Regional on Sunday.
By winning the tournament, the duo moves onto the advance to the ITA National Small College Championships at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala., Oct. 15-18.
Shtemberg and Trinh won the final match of the tournament by blowing past Lia Weiner and Frances Tseng from the University of Rochester, 8-2. The pair, which entered the tournament as the top seed, finished a perfect 5-0 during the three-day event hosted by William Smith College in Geneva, NY.
Freshman Karisse Bendijo (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Egg Harbor Township) saw her banner tournament come to an end in the finals as she fell to third-seeded Weiner in the finals of the singles bracket. Bendijo earned a spot in the finals as the 12th seed in the tournament beating fourth-seeded Danika Robison from Skidmore College 6-1 and 6-2. That win marked the third straight match where Bendijo knocked out a player seeded high than she was.
Shtemberg’s bid for a title in singles play was halted in the semis as she fell to Weiner. Shtemberg won the opening set 6-4, before dropping the final two by the scores of 6-3 and 6-0.
Sophomore Christie Pollin (Mendham, NJ/Gil. St. Bernards) capped her impressive run by winning the consolation bracket with two more victories on Sunday. She opened the day with an 8-3 win over Chelsea Hubbell from St. Lawrence University and then won the bracket with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Alex Goodman from the University of Rochester. She finished the tournament with a record of 5-1.
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).