The women’s tennis team closed out its 2001 season at the New York State Women’s Collegiate Athletic Association championships on Friday and Saturday. The Engineers finished ninth out of the 16 teams at the tournament.
RPI’s top performer was Kristin Powers, who made it to the second round twice. Powers won her first match at third singles, 6-3, 6-4, before losing a pair of tough sets to Hamilton’s Ginger Pearson, 6-4, 6-4. She and Victoria Gardner also had a good run at second doubles, taking down a pair from Cortland in straight sets and then pushing Brighde Dougherty and Diana Harmann of William Smith to a third set before falling.
Sophomore Jessica DePalma also broke into the second round twice—at fourth singles, she made short work of St. Lawrence’s Tammy Klien before falling to Jessica Shofler of Vassar, the eventual winner of the bracket. She and doubles partner Florine Cannelle also won their first match handily, but lost in the next round to the pair from Nazareth, 6-2, 7-5.
The Engineers’ top doubles pair—Alex Koch and Michelle Casey—pulled off a major upset in their first match, defeating the top-seeded Skidmore pair of Dawn Penniston and Karlene Kunigel, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. They also pulled ahead of their next opponents, St. Lawrence’s Johnna Nigh and Liz Kelly, but could not hold the lead, losing 6-3, 4-6, 2-6.
Senior Thais Triehy also won her first match before losing in the quarterfinal round.
For next year, the team will lose co-captains Koch and Casey to graduation, as well as Triehy and Joanna Bender. However, the squad picked up five new players coming into this season, and this youthful core will propel them in seasons to come.
