From Sept. 28 through 30, Williams Smith College hosted the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Regional Championships in Geneva, N.Y. at the Hobart-Williams Smith Tennis Center. CAS sophomore Ashley Masanto and Stern sophomore Alison Wang from the NYU women’s tennis team both played a Round of 16 in singles and advanced to the semifinals together in doubles on Sunday.
In singles play, Masanto started the weekend by defeating senior Emily Maggiore of the State University of New York at Oneonta 6-1 and 6-0, and she defeated freshman Sydney Arsenault of Williams Smith, dropping only two games on a straight set win. On Sunday, Masanto’s singles run ended against junior Yuliya Orkis of Brooklyn College, 1-6 and 2-6.
“Overall, I think I played well,” Masanto said. “My opponents were strong, so I tried to stay focused during every point.”
After defeating freshman Hannah More of Williams Smith, 6-1 and 7-5, Wang won a three-setter against junior Alison Tepas of Nazareth College. Wang and Tepas exchanged tie-breakers in two sets. Finally, Tepas fell to Wang in the third set, 10-7. Wang lost to junior Jessica Bourque of Stevens Institute of Technology on Sunday, 6-1 and 6-2.
Wang and Masanto began their doubles play on Sunday, Sept. 29 by winning a Round of 16 in doubles against Ithaca College’s sophomore Marni Blumenthal and graduate student Allison Young. In the quarterfinals, they defeated Vassar College’s freshmen duo Shayna Becker and Emily Hallewell 8-6. After two days of matches, Masanto and Wang played against Stevens Tech’s Bourque and junior Lisa Tessitore in the semifinals, where they lost 8-2.
“Alison and I play well together, and we always encourage each other to do our best,” Masanto said. “Overall, I think it was a good tournament.”
Bourque and Tessitore advanced to win the doubles title, and William Paterson’s freshman Brittany LaBruna won the singles title of the 2013 USTA/ITA Northeast Regional Championships.
Masanto and Wang, along with the rest of the women’s tennis team, return to the courts at the New York State Division III Championships at Ithaca College on Oct. 11.
A version of this article appeared in the Tuesday, Oct. 1 print edition. Sydney Pereira is a contributing writer. Email her at [email protected].
