Oct. 15, 2007
BETHLEHEM, Pa.- The Marist women's tennis team had a very successful weekend at the Lehigh Tournament. They won 18 of 23 matches during the two day event versus teams from Hamilton, Farleigh Dickinson (FDU), Middlebury, and Lehigh.
Saturday was a day for the doubles teams to shine. The Red Foxes first took on teams from Hamilton and went 4-0. Erin Godly (Verona, Ky.) and Alexa Strange (Valencia, Calif.) won their match 8-1. Cassie Strange (Valencia, Calif.) and Emily Zampello (Kingwood, Texas) defeated Ashley Pardoe and Laura Bruntley 8-6. The Strange/Zampello duo came back from a deficit of 6-3 to win their match. Mirelva Colon (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) and Natalie Fouche (Queens, N.Y.) dominated their match by winning 8-0 and Rhetta Byron (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Jeannie Lukin (Kinderhook, N.Y.) came back from another 6-3 deficit to win their match 9-7.
"We came out and played really well versus Hamilton," Coach Roge Nesbitt said. "We had those two comebacks and they really gave us confidence for the rest of the weekend."
Versus FDU, the Marist women continued to play well, winning three of four.
On Sunday, Marist took on Middlebury in singles and doubles. The doubles duos took two of three. Godly and Strange won their match 8-1, and the Cassie Strange/Emily Zampello team took down their opponents by the same score. On the weekend, Marist doubles teams went a combined 9-2.
In singles versus Middlebury, Alexa Strange, Cassie Strange had a battle on her hands early on. She won the first set 7-6 (7-2), and came out in the second set on fire, winning 6-2.
Coach Nesbitt said, "The way she came out after the tiebreak was really impressive. She really turned up the intensity."
In the final match up of the weekend, the Red Foxes took on Lehigh and won five of six singles matches. Erin Godly cruised in her match, 6-2, 6-0 and Alexa Strange had a battle on her hands once again. She won the first set 6-4, lost the second 4-6 and won a super tie-break 10-8. Mirelva Colon and Natalie Fouche finished off the afternoon with wins for the Red Foxes.
"I was really impressed with Alexa's last match. After dropping the second set, she lost some momentum, but stayed strong mentally and pulled out a tough one. I thought that showed a lot of character," Nesbitt said.
The Lehigh tournament marks the end of the fall tournament season for the Marist women. They will go into off-season training in preparation for their first dual-match of the season versus Colgate on February 16th.
