April 23, 2021

Oneonta, NY – 18-months removed from losing to the SUNY New Paltz Hawks in the SUNYAC finals, these two-rivals met in Oneonta for a regular season contest.  The Red Dragons came up short again losing 8-1 in a very long 3 ½ hour match; the score certainly did not represent the quality of play that was on display.
Doubles really was the undoing of the women as Oneonta had three close matches all being lost by just one service break.  The 3-0 lead for New Paltz was almost insurmountable for Oneonta.

Singles was also very competitive with the highlight of the afternoon coming from number one player junior Olivia Fraser (Queensbury/Queensbury) as she took down the top player from last year in the conference in straight sets 7-5, 6-1.  In the second singles position senior Mya Lipscomb (Peekskill/Walter Panas) split sets with her New Paltz opponent winning the first set 7-5 but lost the second set 6-1 forcing the pair to play a super-tiebreaker for the win.  Lipscomb ran out of gas losing 10-4.  In the third position freshman Sophia Schutte (Great Neck/Great Neck) also won the first set 6-3 but was setback in the second set 6-4 forcing a super-tiebreaker.  The New Paltz player was a senior and perhaps had a little too much experience and took down Schutte 10-8 in the decider.  In the fourth position junior Rebecca Macdonald (Brooklyn/Leon M. Goldstein) only lost her match by just two service breaks.
New Paltz seems to hold an advantage on the Red Dragons and Oneonta will have to play perfect tennis to topple the Hawks when they play again next week.

The Red Dragons host a home match on Monday, April 26^th against the SUNY Plattsburgh Cardinals beginning at 3 PM at the Heissan Tennis Courts.  The Red Dragons did beat the Cardinals last week and will try and sweep the season series.