Oneonta, NY – Since 2007 the SUNY Oneonta women's tennis team has won a total of just two points while facing the five time defending SUNYAC champion SUNY Geneseo Knights.  Today, the Red Dragons doubled that total in just this one dual match.  Although coming out on the short end of today's contest against the defending champs the Red Dragons showed that they are true contenders for the SUNYAC Crown dropping a close match.

In the doubles stanza the number one team of senior Alana Green (Pittsford/Pittsford) and freshman Jacqueline Guidice went toe to toe with the Geneseo duo staying on serve throughout the match but were broken late in the contest and had to settle for a tough well fought loss.  However, the third doubles team of senior Kayla Houle (Apalachin/Owego Free Academy) and junior Katie Ferrara took the first doubles victory for the Red Dragons in over a decade and clinched a huge win with a score of 8-2.  A notable match did take place at the number two flight as freshman Danielle Swierczyna (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) made her Oneonta debut and teamed with junior Samantha Felice (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) and played a very spirited match only to lose 8-3 to their much more seasoned opponents.

The singles competition started with the Red Dragons down 2-1 and well within striking distance to possibly upset the Knights.  The four hour affair continued until dusk but the Red Dragons eventually fell victim to the Knights experience.  Green at number one lost both sets by just one break in each and took a tough defeat 6-4, 6-3.  The big victory of the afternoon for SUNY Oneonta came from sophomore Michelle Halpern (Rye Brook/Blind Brook) who was fighting flu like symptoms.  Halpern took the court in any case and with Coach Mitchel asking her if she would like to stop, the sophomore said "no" and handled all sorts of adversity throughout the competition.  Halpern went up 5-0 in the first set and withstood a comeback of sorts from her opponent who closed to make it 5-4, but Halpern composed herself and sealed the set 6-4.  In the second set Halpern working on fumes, exhaustion and illness still jumped out to a lead in the set and she held on with a 6-2 set triumph drawing on pure adrenaline with her teammates supporting her to the straight set win.

 An unfortunate team loss for the Red Dragons who closed the gap over what has been a dominant one sided rivalry but the Red Dragon women proved they will be a force to be reckoned with in next month's SUNY Athletic Conference Championships.

In the next two and a half weeks the Red Dragons play a very challenging schedule of eight matches beginning with an out of town matchup against Farmingdale on Long Island on Thursday, September 22^nd and then return home to play Elmira College on Saturday, September 24^th beginning at noon.