Box Score Scranton, PA – The SUNY Oneonta women's tennis team pulled off another magic act today as they moved to 9-0 with an unlikely win over the University of Scranton 5-4.

Doubles play started very slowly for the Oneonta women when the number two and three flighted Red Dragon duo's both lost putting the squad into 2-0 hole.  The number one doubles pair of junior Alyssa Brault (Rochester/Churchville-Chili) and freshman Julieta Eulau (Oceanside/Oceanside) were tied 5-5 in their matchup but found another gear with a service break and went on to win with great passing shots and commanding net play.  Once again a crucial win at the number one flight opened the door for an incredible afternoon of singles competition.

Down 2-1 entering singles, the match was tightly contested on all courts.  The number two singles player Eulau played a lot of long points but all the crucial rallies went Eulau's way and she closed her match out with commanding and clean ground strokes.  The number three singles player for Oneonta, junior Michelle Halpern (Rye Brook/Blind Brook), also played a very clean game from the baseline and moved to a 6-1, 6-2 triumph.  The number four Red Dragon singles player was freshman Mya Lipscomb (Peekskill/Walter Panas) who continues to dominate in that position and today was no different earning a very impressive 6-1, 6-0 conquest.

The Red Dragons now led the match 4-2 needing only one more singles victory to clinch the team match.  The strong University of Scranton team made their move and earned victories at numbers five and six.  Senior Samantha Felice (Seneca Falls/Mynderse Academy) played valiantly in her fifth position but could not get the swing points and settled for a 6-2, 6-3 loss.  Freshman Emma Messenger (Marlboro/Marlboro) dropped the first set 6-2 and came back to win the second set 6-3 with the Red Dragons only needing Messenger to clinch the super-tiebreaker for Oneonta to secure the dual meet.  Messenger fell just short of the comeback and was stopped in the breaker at 10-7. 

With the match now tied at four victories for each squad, the contest was in number one singles player Brault's hands.  Brault fell in the first set 7-5 and had several chances to clinch the set on her serve but the scrappy University of Scranton foe would not relent and held on.  Brault was down 4-3 in the second set and fought back and went ahead 5-4.  Still Brault was pushed back and Scranton took the lead 6-5.  Brault's serve held up and they went into the second set tiebreaker.  Each player had a set point; Brault saved two match points which would have given Scranton the team victory.  Somehow Brault played courageously and performed Houdini acts to claw her way out of challenging situations on the biggest points and won the set 7-6 (8-6).

Into the super-tiebreaker they went and Brault went ahead 4-1 only to see the lead squandered and eventually went down 6-5.  Once behind by one-point Brault found the extra adrenaline needed and won five out of the next six points and earned a win and a huge victory for the Red Dragons. The first singles victory helped keep the winning streak alive for Oneonta now at nine and undefeated on the season thus far.  Once the match was completed Brault celebrated the victory with her teammates handing the University of Scranton only their second loss of the year.  The dual match took 4 ½ hours to complete and Brault's singles match alone took almost three-hours.

The 9-0 Red Dragons go back on the road and play their arch rival New Paltz on Friday, October 6^th beginning at 4 PM on the campus of SUNY New Paltz.  The following day Oneonta will head to Brockport to play their other SUNY rival on their campus on Saturday, October 7^th beginning at noon.