Claudia Silvers
Contributing Writer
The women’s tennis team once again dominated the courts on Sept. 20-21 in its second home tournament of the fall season. The Bison faced competition against Villanova, Mount St. Mary’s, and Bloomsburg.
“I’m thrilled at the level we are competing at for this early in our year. We are not only playing solid tennis, but we are playing smart tennis, which is a very encouraging sign for later this year,” head coach Rebecca Helt said.
Off to a great start in both doubles and singles, the Bison placed a team member in the finals of every draw. Stephanie Pino ’16, Michele Urbinati ’17, and Jorie Fox ’17 all finished as champions of their respective brackets. Pino won all three of her Blue Flight singles matches in straight sets, never giving up more than three games. Pino ultimately defeated Villanova’s Nicole Coons 6-3, 6-0 in the finals.
Urbinati followed a similar pattern and did not drop a set in her White Draw singles matches, defeating Villanova player Conner Brewer 6-2, 6-2 in the finals.
Fox won the Gray Draw, recovering from a tough three-set match in the semifinals to triumph over Villanova’s Giana Mitchell 6-1, 6-2 in the finals.
Maria Cioffi ’16 played a tough match in the finals of the Orange Draw, dropping the first set 6-0. Although Cioffi fought back to win 6-2 in the second, she ultimately lost in a 10-8 supertiebreaker.
“I think as a team we had a solid weekend because we had someone in the finals of every draw, and a lot of the team has made noticeable improvement from the start of the season until now,” Cioffi said.
The Bison also experienced success in the doubles flights. They appeared in the finals of both doubles flights, clinching victory in the Doubles North Draw. The North Draw ended in an all Bison-final, with Cioffi/Urbinati beating teammates Pino/Lydia Colvin ’15 8-4. Fox/Melissa Parks ’17 ultimately lost to Villanova in the finals of the Doubles South Draw.
“After this weekend, I’m really excited about how far we’ve progressed in terms of doubles! We’ve come a long way after struggling to find good chemistry last year as indicated by the doubles final including two Bucknell teams,” Colvin said.
“Performing like this so early really allows us to put more focus on the smaller details that will help make us a better team. There’s no question we have the talent. Now it’s about measuring the desire to work harder on the small things that build championship caliber teams,” Helt said.
The women’s tennis team will finish its fall season with the St. Bonaventure Invitational on Oct. 4-6.