Three in a row for Red Dragon Women’s Tennis - Topple University of Scranton 9-0
Third shutout in a row
September 17, 2021
Oneonta, NY – The SUNY Oneonta women's tennis team turned in their third win in a row and another shutout. The University of Scranton Royals came calling and ran into a very hungry Red Dragon tennis team.
The lopsided score of 9-0 did not reflect the quality of the matches and the individual performances that were on display today on the Heissan Tennis Courts on the campus of SUNY Oneonta. Doubles saw the number one pair of senior
Madeline Carswell (Bethlehem/Bethlehem Central) and junior
Maxie Karen (New York, NY/The Clinton School) have some challenges at the beginning having gone down a break of serve. However, they got the break back and won five-straight games to take the opener 8-4. The veteran duo of seniors
Rebecca Macdonald (Brooklyn/Leon M. Goldstein) and
Olivia Fraser (Queensbury/Queensbury) joined again in the second position and went onto a convincing 8-0 win. The third pair of sophomores
Julia Holtermann (Staten Island/Curtis) and
Sophia Schutte (Great Neck/Great Neck) playing for the first time together shook off some jitters but then turned in an 8-1 victory.
The 3-0 lead after singles is usually secure but the University of Scranton did not go onto defeat easily. Schutte, Macdonald and sophomore
Brianna Shaw (Staten Island/Curtis) went onto straight set wins with Karen earning the clincher in the sixth spot. However, Carswell was locked into a tiebreaker in her first set at the second flight where she finally emerged victorious and then got the needed break she needed in the second set on route to a very tough straight set win 7-6, 6-3. In perhaps the feature match of the afternoon number one singles player Fraser went down 6-1 in the first set to the heavy hitter from Scranton. Fraser then went down 5-3 in the second set only to break back and hold serve forcing the tiebreak where the top seeded Red Dragon woman deadlocked the match at one-set apiece. The super-tiebreaker is where Fraser held her poise and played the big points better as she won a very emotional match in front of family, friends and teammates in the dusk 1-6, 7-6 (10-8). That match at the first flight clinched the third shutout in a row for the women.
Notable exhibition wins came from seniors
Amelia Wilson (Averill Park/Averill Park) and
Ariel Loucks (Averill Park/Averill Park) in doubles along with senior
Brianna Harmon (Endicott/Union Endicott) and junior
Jessica Harris (Cobleskill/Academy of Holy Names). Wilson and Holtermann also emerged victorious in their exhibition wins in singles making it a clean sweep in all positions for the Red Dragons today.
The Red Dragons come back tomorrow with little rest and play a doubleheader. SUNY Farmingdale at 11 AM followed by conference foe SUNY Plattsburgh at 1 PM on Saturday, September 18
th at the Heissan Tennis Courts on the campus of SUNY Oneonta.
