GENEVA, N.Y. - The William Smith Herons bettered the SUNY Oneonta women's tennis team by a score of 6-3 as the Red Dragons dramatically improved upon their 0-9 setback just one year prior.  The Red Dragons, after losing to Hamilton College last week by a score of 9-0, came back this week against a highly ranked William Smith squad and took them to the brink before finally accepting defeat at the Bristol Field House on the campus of William Smith College.

William Smith won two of the three doubles matches to take a 2-1 lead. The Red Dragon duo of sophomore Samantha Felice (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) and freshman Faith Haedrich (Islip/Islip) won at third doubles by a score of 8-4 surprising the Herons who then realized that they were in for a long afternoon of tennis.  Haedrich and Felice never dropped a service game and broke their opponents twice to secure a very impressive triumph.

In first singles, the very reliable Alana Green (Pittsford/Pittsford) ran into a buzz saw as she met the ITA Northeast 23^rd ranked player and dropped the match 0-6, 0-6 which was Green's first double bagel loss as a Red Dragon.  The score did not represent the quality of the points played, but Green could not find the weapon needed to close out the long rallies.

Senior Michelle Spencer (Homer/Homer) stayed close at second singles in the first set staying on serve until she was broken to go down 3-5 in that set and could not recover and lost 3-6, 0-6 in what Spencer said "I played some of the best tennis I played all year and just ran into a better player today".

At third singles freshman Michelle Halpern (Rye Brook/Blind Brook) ran into a competitor who was on an eight match winning streak and the more experienced Heron bested Halpern shutting her out 0-6, 0-6. 

Fourth and fifth singles was where the Red Dragons made their move in trying to pull off the upset.  At the fourth position senior Samantha Butcher (Sidney/Sidney Central) played mentally tough tennis and surprised the Heron combatant winning 6-3, 6-4.  While down 0-4 in the second set the never say quit Butcher won the next six games with incredible intestinal fortitude by refusing to not miss a shot and completely out played her opponent mentally that resulted in the fourth singles upset.

At the fifth spot junior Christine Santarsiero (Rye Brook/Blind Brook) also pulled off a huge upset when she bounced back after dropping the first set 4-6.  She completely surprised her William Smith opponent in the second set hitting blistering backhands while making few unforced errors and won that set 6-3.  Santarsiero forced the match into the super tiebreaker and defeated her opponent 10-6 in the final stanza as she won the last four points in a row to secure the triumph.

At sixth singles freshman Gabriella Dybas (Amsterdam /Amsterdam) played incredibly poised tennis but lost to a more experienced player in straight sets 3-6, 1-6.

The 17 year veteran head coach of the Herons, Chip Fishback, commented after the match, "The Red Dragons women's tennis team was one of the scrappiest and hard-working teams we have played in quite some time and we were just happy to have gotten the victory today".

Women's Coach Lonnie Mitchel said, "despite the loss today, this match was a real confidence booster for many of our players who were not intimidated by the William Smith reputation and laid it on the line going for every shot.  In the end, they just were a little more experienced, but I was so happy seeing our players play as hard as they did until the very last shot was struck and subscribe to the credo, play every ball like your life depends on it."

The Red Dragons continue their spring season when they meet Union College on Thursday, April 7^th beginning at 4 PM in Schenectady.

Doubles competition
1. Hannah More/Alex Greenberg (WSC) def. Michelle Spencer (Homer/Homer)/Alana Green (Pittsford/Pittsford) (ONE) 8-4
2. Connie Froass/Sydney Ferry (WSC) def. ChristineSantarsiero/Samantha Butcher (Sidney/Sidney Central) (ONE) 8-5
3. Samantha Felice (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy)/Faith Haedrich (Islip/Islip) (ONE) def. Taylor Ferrari/Alex Cattie (WSC) 8-4
 
Singles competition
1. Hannah More (WSC) def. Alana Green (Pittsford/Pittsford) (ONE) 6-0, 6-0
2. Alex Greenberg (WSC) def. Michelle Spencer (Homer/Homer) (ONE) 6-3, 6-0
3. Michaelann Denton (WSC) def. Michelle Halpern (Rye Brook/Blind Brook) (ONE) 6-0, 6-0
4. Samantha Butcher (Sidney/Sidney Central) (ONE) def. Connie Froass (WSC) 6-3, 6-4
5. ChristineSantarsiero (ONE) def. Sydney Ferry (WSC) 4-6, 6-3, 10-7
6. Alex Cattie (WSC) def. Gabriella Dybas (Amsterdam /Amsterdam) (ONE) 6-3, 6-1