HOUGHTON, NY – The 2021 Hartwick tennis team has officially gone where no other squad has gone before, advancing to the Empire 8 Championship match for the first time in program history. The second-seeded Hawks downed third-seeded St. John Fisher by a 5-1 score on Friday afternoon at Houghton College's Kerr-Pegula Field House. They move on to face top seed Nazareth in the Championship tomorrow at 1 p.m., also on Houghton's campus. The winner claims the conference title and also clinches an automatic berth into the 2022 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship in May.
The victory moves 'Wick's record to 9-2, which is their highest win total since they also had nine in 2005. The Cardinals finish their fall season at 5-5.
The Hawks started off the day by claiming two of the three available points at doubles. Top pairing Victoria Wilson (Trenton, NJ/Trenton Catholic Academy) and Jade Killikelly (Jamaica, NY/The Mary Louis Academy) got by Kathryn Strait and Mikayla Santulli with ease at 8-1, needing five fewer games to beat them than in their regular season matchup. Second doubles team Ryann Ashby (Malta, NY/Ballston Spa) and Val Kohberger (Seneca Falls, NY/Mynderse Academy) squeezed by Keely Legnard and Madison Galvin 8-7 with a 7-2 tiebreaker for the Hawks' second point, but Colleen Marsh (Marcellus, NY/Marcellus) and Jess Sexton (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) could not quite complete the doubles sweep in an 8-6 loss to Jacqueline Chouinard and Riley Ellis.
'Wick's leads grew to two without any more effort required on their part, as Wilson's third flight opponent withdrew due to injury to give the Hawks the win. Killikelly's adversary at top singles also had to retire due to injury, although the Hartwick sophomore had won the first set 6-4 and led the second 3-0 by that point. Marsh provided the clincher at fifth singles, taking out Chouinard 6-3, 6-1. The match-winning point came as Chouinard was forced to the net after Marsh's return flicked off the top of it, enabling Marsh to loft one over her opponent for the win.
The matchups of Ashby at second singles, Kohberger at fourth singles, and Sexton at sixth singles were unfinished, as the Hawks had all five points they needed to win.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, 'Wick is hoping for a different outcome than the 8-1 loss they took to Nazareth back on September 18. All six singles matchups were fairly close that day, including four that took the maximum three sets.
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