ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The Oneonta women's tennis team fell to Cortland in the Battle of the Red Dragons, 5-2, Thursday afternoon at Dr. Heissan's Tennis Courts. Oneonta started strong by sweeping the doubles matches, then Cortland flipped the script and took five of the six singles courts. Sophomore
Taylor Plue (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs) was the only Oneonta player to win in singles and doubles as the result dropped Oneonta to 4-6 overall, 1-4 in the SUNYAC, and Cortland improved to 6-5 in the season, 3-2 in conference play.
In doubles play, junior
Haley Peck (West Point, N.Y./James I. O'Neil) and sophomore
Annika Cripe (Islip, N.Y./Islip) won their third straight doubles match as Oneonta's top duo with a 6-2 victory over Lisa Schulz and Christina Massoni. The freshmen pairing of
Ashley Glaviano (Glen Cove, NY/Glen Cove) and
Kiersten Rufrano (Oneonta, NY) improved to 4-2 as a team as they defeated Anneli Adams and Emma Morley on court No. 3, 6-3.
Plue and freshman
Dakota Jimenez (Poughquag, NY/Arlington) had an intense match on court No. 2 against Gabriella Stanley and Alexandra Thut. Plue and Jimenez were down 5-6 in the match when the duo outplayed their Cortland opponents and forced a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, both teams traded points back-and-forth, until the Oneonta duo won the final three points to win the match, 7-6 (7-5), improve to 4-2 as a team and complete Oneonta's doubles sweep over Cortland.
In singles play, Plue was the lone player for Oneonta to win, while Cortland secured the other five courts. Plue faced Stanley on court No. 3 where the two battled each other into a tiebreaker in the first set. Neither Red Dragon could get the edge over the other at the start of the tiebreaker, then Plue overwhelmed Stanley for the final few points and won, 11-9. The sophomore kept the momentum going in the second set and upended Stanley for a straight set victory, 7-6 (11-9), 6-2, and improved to 5-3 in singles play this season.
Peck went up against Schulz on court No. 1 and, like Plue, went into a tiebreaker in her first set, however Schulz got the upper hand and took the tiebreaker, 7-1. Schulz eventually took the match, 7-6 (7-1), 6-1. Cripe had Massoni on court No. 2, but unfortunately Cripe started to deal with injuries that hindered her performance and allowed Massoni to take the match, 6-1, 7-5. Rufrano, Jimenez and freshman
Trinity Lyons (Mastic, N.Y./William Floyd) each fell in straight sets on courts four, five, and six.
Due to the result, Oneonta was eliminated from the SUNYAC playoff contention. The team's next match will be on Saturday, October 11, against Alfred at 1 pm on Dr. Heissan's Tennis Courts.
