Women's Tennis | 10/9/2016 5:55:00 PM

ELMIRA, NY - In not only its final match of an Empire 8 back-to-back but also to wrap up the regular season, the visiting Hartwick women's tennis team pulled out a 6-3 win over Elmira on Sunday afternoon. The Hawks logged four sweeps including one perfect doubles showing to finish their regular season 8-4 (5-3 E8). The Soaring Eagles go down to 1-13 overall (0-8 E8).

Caitlin O'Brien (Glenville, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) and Jaclyn LaSita (Wading River, NY/Shoreham-Wading River) notched the perfect doubles clip at no. 3. 

After winning the first segment, 7-5, and falling in the second, top flight participant, Heidi Rice (Canandaigua, NY/Marcus Whitman), went into a tiebreaker with Tilila El Yazidi. In the extra go-round, Rice saved three match points before El Yazidi settled the score, 12-10 and won the match. This marks only Rice's third loss for the season at 8-3.

The three seamless singles victories were to the credit of Kelly Napolitano (Mt. Sinai, NY/Mt. Sinai) at third, O'Brien at fourth, and Caitlin Hawley (Camillus, NY/West Genesse) at the sixth flight. O'Brien ended a four-match skid while Hawley participated in just her third match of the season.

Napolitano has now registered eight total wins, three of which ending without losing a game.

The other singles win came from LaSita who dropped only one game, 6-1, 6-0, over Sarah Hill for her second consecutive victory.

The 2016 Empire 8 Championships will commence this Friday with Hartwick as the fourth seed facing the defending champion, Ithaca, in the semifinals. Stevens will compete against third-seeded, Nazareth.