April 8, 2011

Final Stats

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Marist women's tennis squad met up with the Fairfield Stags in a road matchup, that began at 3 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. After more than four hours of hard-fought competition, the Stags took victory by the slimmest of margins, 4-3.

After taking the doubles point, the Red Foxes won two of the first five completed singles matches to set up the dramatic finale, in which the winner of the number four match between freshman Marielle Campbell (Patterson, N.Y.) and Fairfield's freshman Caroline Emhardt would win the decisive fourth point.

The first two sets went into extras and were split as Emhardt won the first, 7-5 and Campbell the second at 7-5. In the third set, the tight action continue as the players went back and forth trading games. Tied at 5 all, the match was halted as darkness was settling in. After a change of venue to the Stamford Indoor Tennis Center, Campbell and Emhardt took the match to a tie-breaker with a 6-6 score. In the tie-breaker, Campbell fell by the narrowest of scores, 8-6. The final line of the match, which Head Coach Roge Nesbitt described as "quite the match with unique circumstances, that unfortunately had to see someone lose" was Emhardt 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6).

Marist's two singles winners were sophomore Joana Sun (Gales Ferry, Conn.) in no. 3 singles defeating Kristen Liu 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) and senior Jeannie Lukin (Kinderhook, N.Y.) in the no. 6 match defeating Victoria Pirrello 6-0, 6-0.

In a matchup of MAAC player of the week award winners, single-time winner sophomore Kelsey Raynor (Garden City, N.Y.) faced off with two-time honoree Monica Yajima in the no. 1 singles match. After losing the first set 6-2, Raynor fought back and won the second by a score of 7-5. Yajima took the point and victory with a 6-1 score in the third set.

Marist took the doubles point of the strength of victories by the number one pairing of junior Erin McCarthy (Salem, N.J.) and Raynor over Yajima and Emhardt, 8-6 and the number two pair of Sun and Campbell, who defeated Ryan and Liu, 9-8 (7-5)

After the match Nesbitt was pleased with the competitiveness and effort that the team showed, "this was a great match for us. Even though we may have lost, there are a lot of things we can take from today and use down the road in the MAAC tournament."

Marist will return to action Saturday, April 9 when they host a double-header. They will first face off with Saint Peter`s in MAAC action at 10 a.m. and then come back to play Hartford at 3 p.m.

FINAL SCORE: FAIRFIELD 4 - MARIST 3

MAR: Kelsey Raynor - Erin McCarthy defeats Monica Yajima - Caroline Emhardt, 8-6

MAR: Joana Sun - Marielle Campball defeats Sharisaa Ryan - Kristen Liu, 9-8 (7-5)

FAIR: Alyssa Ruiz - Victoria Pirrello defeats Kayla O'Donovan - Retta Byron, 8-0

MARIST wins doubles point, 2-1

FAIR: Monica Yajima defeats Kelsey Raynor, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1

FAIR: Sharissa Ryan defeats Erin McCarthy, 6-4, 6-4

MAR: Joana Sun defeats Kristen Liu, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)

FAIR: Caroline Emhardt defeats Marielle Campbell, 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6)

FAIR: Alyssa Ruiz defeats Kayla O'Donovan, 6-3, 6-4

MAR: Jeannie Lukin defeats Victoria Pirrello, 6-0, 6-0

FAIRFIELD wins singles, 4-2