Sunday, April 30
Mercer County Park, West Windsor, New Jersey
10 AM
Quinnipiac University
4
vs
2
Siena College
Four In A Row! QU Women's Tennis Fights Off Siena For Fourth Straight MAAC Title
4/30/2017 1:04:00 PM | Women's Tennis
WEST WINDSOR, N.J. - Senior Sydney Young (Austin, Texas) won the clinching match in the third set (6-3, 3-6, 6-3) at No. 4 singles as the top-seeded Quinnipiac women's tennis team captured a 4-2 win over second-seeded Siena in the championship match of the 2017 MAAC Tournament on Sunday afternoon at Mercer Park.
Young and fellow seniors Kelsi Oliphant (Calgary, Alberta), Sitilia Rencheli (Sarasota, Fla.) and Rachel Horton (Stamford, Conn.) end their careers without ever dropping a MAAC contest, finishing 38-0 overall (30-0 in the regular season, 8-0 in MAAC Tournaments). The Bobcats will move on to participate in the NCAA Division I Championship for the fourth year in a row.
Oliphant and Rencheli won the clinching point in doubles at No. 2 (6-4) and sophomores Jennifer Lu (Cypress, Calif.), who was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, and Proyfon Lohaphaisan (Santa Clarita, Calif.) added straight-set singles wins at No. 2 and No. 6, respectively to account for the Bobcats points. Freshman Layla Rodriguez (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) was also ahead 4-1 in the third set at No. 5 singles when Young earned the clincher.
"The seniors really wanted to go out undefeated in the MAAC," said Head Coach Paula Miller. "Siena is a really ,really great team, and I knew they were going to come out and fight. It was close, closer than I would have wanted, but with Sydney out there as a senior, I knew she could pull it out."
"This honestly was probably the best win for our class," said Young. "Siena was undefeated until they played us in the regular season, and that was a big win, and they came out with a vengeance today. We had huge wins from our underclassmen Jen and Proyfon, and Layla was up big too, so it was huge maturity from them."
It was clear from the start of the match that Siena was going to put up a tough challenge. Lu and Rodriguez won quickly 6-1 at No. 3 doubles for a 1-0 lead, but Siena's No. 1 doubles team of Ali Garrity and Mitsuki Fukamachi won the last four games to take a 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles. The doubles point came down to No. 2, where Oliphant and Rencheli had a tight battle, but were able to keep a one-break advantage down the stretch. Serving up 5-4, they pulled it out as Oliphant served 40-15 and Rencheli emphatically put the volley away on the return to give the Bobcats the doubles point and a 1-0 lead.
Quinnipiac appeared to be in good shape in the early part of singles by winning the first set on four of six courts, but the momentum turned a bit when Garrity won an 8-6 tiebreaker in the first set from Rencheli. Lohaphaisan finished off a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles, but was pushed a bit at the end as Anessa Leyva fought off four match points to stay in it, before Lohaphaisan won a long rally to earn the first singles point and give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead.
Mitsuki Fukamachi got the point right back moments later with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles, and Garrity won the second set 6-1 at No. 1 singles to tie the match at 2-2. Siena also earned even momentum by forcing splits at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, but Lu came through with a big tiebreaker win in the second set at No. 2 to give the Bobcats back the lead at 3-2. After taking the first set 6-0, Lu had to hold twice at 5-4 and 6-5 to get the second set into a tiebreaker, and then won the last five points of the tiebreaker for a 7-2 win and a straight-set victory.
With the Bobcats leading 3-2, the matches at No. 4 and No. 5 singles were tight, as Young led 3-1 early but Natalie Weaver came back to pull even at 3-3. Rodriguez got up a break early at 2-0 in the third at No. 5 and battled back from 15-30 down to hold for a 3-1 lead. Young and Rodriguez both picked up breaks almost simultaneously as Young went ahead 5-3 and Rodriguez went ahead 4-1.
With the momentum back on Quinnipiac's side, Young served for the match and won at love, building a 40-0 lead and then clinching the title with a powerful first serve that Weaver hit back into the net. That set off the celebration, as the Bobcats were able to prevail for the fourth time in a row.
The Bobcats will find out their NCAA Tournament fate when the selection show takes place on Tuesday, May 2 at 5:30 p.m.
2017 MAAC Championship Match
Mercer Park (West Windsor, N.J.)
Quinnipiac 4, Siena 2
Doubles
1: Ali Garrity/Mitsuki Fukamachi (SIENA) def. Sydney Young/Rachel Horton 6-3
2. Sitilia Rencheli/Kelsi Oliphant (QU) def. Ivana Boberic/Natalie Weaver 6-4
3. Jennifer Lu/Layla Rodriguez (QU) def. Rina Sakai/Anessa Leyva 6-1
Order of Finish: 3,1,2
Singles
1. Ali Garrity (SiENA) def. Sitilia Rencheli 7-6 (6), 6-1
2. Jennifer Lu (QU) def. Ivana Boberic 6-0, 7-6 (2)
3. Mitsuki Fukamachi (SIENA) def. Rachel Horton 6-3, 6-3
4. Sydney Young (QU) def. Natalie Weaver 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
5. Layla Rodriguez (QU) led Rina Sakai 7-5, 3-6, 4-1 (unfinished)
6. Proyfon Lohaphaisan (QU) def. Anessa Leyva 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 6,3,1,2,4
Young and fellow seniors Kelsi Oliphant (Calgary, Alberta), Sitilia Rencheli (Sarasota, Fla.) and Rachel Horton (Stamford, Conn.) end their careers without ever dropping a MAAC contest, finishing 38-0 overall (30-0 in the regular season, 8-0 in MAAC Tournaments). The Bobcats will move on to participate in the NCAA Division I Championship for the fourth year in a row.
Oliphant and Rencheli won the clinching point in doubles at No. 2 (6-4) and sophomores Jennifer Lu (Cypress, Calif.), who was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, and Proyfon Lohaphaisan (Santa Clarita, Calif.) added straight-set singles wins at No. 2 and No. 6, respectively to account for the Bobcats points. Freshman Layla Rodriguez (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) was also ahead 4-1 in the third set at No. 5 singles when Young earned the clincher.
"The seniors really wanted to go out undefeated in the MAAC," said Head Coach Paula Miller. "Siena is a really ,really great team, and I knew they were going to come out and fight. It was close, closer than I would have wanted, but with Sydney out there as a senior, I knew she could pull it out."
"This honestly was probably the best win for our class," said Young. "Siena was undefeated until they played us in the regular season, and that was a big win, and they came out with a vengeance today. We had huge wins from our underclassmen Jen and Proyfon, and Layla was up big too, so it was huge maturity from them."
It was clear from the start of the match that Siena was going to put up a tough challenge. Lu and Rodriguez won quickly 6-1 at No. 3 doubles for a 1-0 lead, but Siena's No. 1 doubles team of Ali Garrity and Mitsuki Fukamachi won the last four games to take a 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles. The doubles point came down to No. 2, where Oliphant and Rencheli had a tight battle, but were able to keep a one-break advantage down the stretch. Serving up 5-4, they pulled it out as Oliphant served 40-15 and Rencheli emphatically put the volley away on the return to give the Bobcats the doubles point and a 1-0 lead.
Quinnipiac appeared to be in good shape in the early part of singles by winning the first set on four of six courts, but the momentum turned a bit when Garrity won an 8-6 tiebreaker in the first set from Rencheli. Lohaphaisan finished off a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles, but was pushed a bit at the end as Anessa Leyva fought off four match points to stay in it, before Lohaphaisan won a long rally to earn the first singles point and give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead.
Mitsuki Fukamachi got the point right back moments later with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles, and Garrity won the second set 6-1 at No. 1 singles to tie the match at 2-2. Siena also earned even momentum by forcing splits at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, but Lu came through with a big tiebreaker win in the second set at No. 2 to give the Bobcats back the lead at 3-2. After taking the first set 6-0, Lu had to hold twice at 5-4 and 6-5 to get the second set into a tiebreaker, and then won the last five points of the tiebreaker for a 7-2 win and a straight-set victory.
With the Bobcats leading 3-2, the matches at No. 4 and No. 5 singles were tight, as Young led 3-1 early but Natalie Weaver came back to pull even at 3-3. Rodriguez got up a break early at 2-0 in the third at No. 5 and battled back from 15-30 down to hold for a 3-1 lead. Young and Rodriguez both picked up breaks almost simultaneously as Young went ahead 5-3 and Rodriguez went ahead 4-1.
With the momentum back on Quinnipiac's side, Young served for the match and won at love, building a 40-0 lead and then clinching the title with a powerful first serve that Weaver hit back into the net. That set off the celebration, as the Bobcats were able to prevail for the fourth time in a row.
The Bobcats will find out their NCAA Tournament fate when the selection show takes place on Tuesday, May 2 at 5:30 p.m.
2017 MAAC Championship Match
Mercer Park (West Windsor, N.J.)
Quinnipiac 4, Siena 2
Doubles
1: Ali Garrity/Mitsuki Fukamachi (SIENA) def. Sydney Young/Rachel Horton 6-3
2. Sitilia Rencheli/Kelsi Oliphant (QU) def. Ivana Boberic/Natalie Weaver 6-4
3. Jennifer Lu/Layla Rodriguez (QU) def. Rina Sakai/Anessa Leyva 6-1
Order of Finish: 3,1,2
Singles
1. Ali Garrity (SiENA) def. Sitilia Rencheli 7-6 (6), 6-1
2. Jennifer Lu (QU) def. Ivana Boberic 6-0, 7-6 (2)
3. Mitsuki Fukamachi (SIENA) def. Rachel Horton 6-3, 6-3
4. Sydney Young (QU) def. Natalie Weaver 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
5. Layla Rodriguez (QU) led Rina Sakai 7-5, 3-6, 4-1 (unfinished)
6. Proyfon Lohaphaisan (QU) def. Anessa Leyva 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 6,3,1,2,4
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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