Northeast Conference Women's Tennis Championship Home Page
West Windsor, N.J. - The Long Island University women's tennis team defeated No. 3 Quinnipiac, 4-1, in the semifinals of the Northeast Conference Tournament to advance to the championship match for the seventh straight year. The second-seeded Blackbirds bested their conference rival in the semifinals after squaring off with the Bobcats in the final in each of the last seven years.
Long Island went the distance to gain the all-important doubles point. After the duo of senior
Selma Babic and freshman
Aleksandra Pavlovic fell at No. 1 to Mary Wilson and Adrienne Markison, 8-4, the second position pairing of senior H'Ann Johnson and freshman
Taysha Blessington downed Rachel Cantor and Sarah Viebrock, 8-6. In the third position, senior
Stephanie Elie and junior
Dara Lahens withstood a late comeback bid by Natalie Duckor and Shawna Sarson, clinching the point with a 9-8 (7-3) tiebreaker victory.
In singles play, the Bobcats evened the match at 1-1 with a win by Markison over Pavlovic at the No. 3 spot by a 6-1; 6-1 margin. Blessington then returned the lead to Long Island, scoring a win at the fourth position over Viebrock, 6-2; 6-4. Johnson's 6-1; 6-4 win over Duckor at No. 5 pushed Quinnipiac to the brink of elimination just before Babic finished off her No. 1 spot win over Wilson by the same scores, sending the Blackbirds to the title match once again.
The Blackbirds improved to 13-3 while Quinnipiac dropped to 9-8.
Long Island will look to defend its NEC crown on Sunday, April 18, taking on top-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson at 12:30 p.m.
NEC Semifinals
No. 2 Long Island 4, No. 3 Quinnipiac 1
Singles
1. BABIC, Selma (LIU) def. WILSON, Mary (QU) 6-1, 6-4
2. SJOGREN, Linn (LIU) vs. CANTOR, Rachel (QU) 4-6, 4-4, unfinished
3. MARKISON, Adrienne (QU) def. PAVLOVIC, Aleksandra (LIU) 6-1, 6-1
4. BLESSINGTON, Taysha (LIU) def. VIEBROCK, Sarah (QU) 6-2, 6-4
5. JOHNSON, H'Ann (LIU) def. DUCKOR, Natalie (QU) 6-1, 6-4
6. ELIE, Stephanie (LIU) vs. STEINERT, Lisanne (QU) 6-4, 4-0, unfinished
Doubles
1. WILSON, Mary/MARKISON, Adrienne (QU) def. BABIC, Selma/PAVLOVIC, Aleksandra (LIU) 8-4
2. BLESSINGTON, Taysha/JOHNSON, H'Ann (LIU) def. CANTOR, Rachel/VIEBROCK, Sarah (QU) 8-6
3. LAHENS, Dara/ELIE, Stephanie (LIU) def. DUCKOR, Natalie/SARSON, Shawna (QU) 9-8 (7-4)