Box Score
The No. 4 seeded Lightning of Lehman College (12-6 Overall, 5-4 CUNYAC) advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2009 CUNYAC Women’s Tennis Tournament by defeating the No. 5 seeded Dolphins of the College of Staten Island (8-11 Overall, 5-4 CUNYAC) by a score of 5-0 Tuesday afternoon at the APEX Tennis Courts in the Bronx. The victory sets up Friday afternoon’s semifinal round battle, as the Lightning will take on the No. 1 seeded Hawks of Hunter College who advanced Tuesday as well, as they silenced the No. 8 seeded Yellow Jackets of New York City College of Technology.
Prior to the contest, the Lehman College athletic department, including Sports Information Director Stephen Spagnoli, Director of Athletics, Dr. Martin L. Zwiren, Vice President of Student Affairs Jose Magdaleno, and women’s tennis head coach Zack Davis honored two graduating seniors – Evauna Neville and Aurora Peters. Both seniors contributed four years to the program, and each were presented with commemorative plaques as well as bouquets of flowers in a very heart-warming show of appreciation.
The Lightning used the momentum of their recent winning ways as well as the emotion of the pre-game ceremonies to springboard themselves into competition with Staten Island on a high. The Lightning captured all three doubles sets to take an early 3-0 lead in the contest. At No. 1 doubles, the senior pair – Neville and Peters – downed Staten Island’s standout combo of Gabriella Villarruel and Taylor Moran by a score of 8-1. No. 2 doubles saw Lehman’s Gabrela Harewood and Melissa Hemick defeat the Dolphins’ Fabiana Iannuzzi and Justine Kuna 8-4, and in a classic No. 3 doubles confrontation – it was Lehman’s Ravnit Bhatia and Natalee Smith turning back Staten Island’s Qing Li and Nancy Almazo, 8-6.
Only two singles matches were finished, and because Lehman College was victorious in those contests, the remaining four singles matches were halted and the Lightning were awarded a 5-0 victory, as per the CUNY rule for playoff competition. At No. 1 singles, it was Neville defeating Villarruel, 6-0, 6-2, and at No. 2 singles, it was Peters silencing Moran, 6-1, 6-2. Following the match, Head Coach Zack Davis gave his thoughts on his seniors as well as the team’s performance.
“Evauna Neville and Aurora Peters have truly done a tremendous job of leading by example over the past four years, and they have effectively played at No. 1 and No. 2 singles as well as No. 1 doubles for a long time. Their dedication to this program has been nothing short of phenomenal, and they will certainly be missed when this season concludes. As for our effort today – I’m extremely proud of the attitude we had coming in and our intensity on the court. We were focused and confident from the very beginning – and now we’ll get ready to take on a very talented Hunter College team on Friday.
The No. 4 seeded Lightning will now battle the No. 1 seeded Hawks of Hunter College on Friday afternoon at the U.S. National Tennis Center. Start time is slated for 4:00pm and all fans are encouraged to attend and cheer on the Lightning in their quest for a CUNYAC title!