SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Skidmore College women's tennis team, the Liberty League regular season champions, looks for an unprecedented seventh straight Liberty League Championship this weekend, May 5-6. The team travels to Ithaca, N.Y. for the Liberty League Tournament, held at the Reis Center at Cornell University.
The top-seeded Thoroughbreds (10-7, 7-0 Liberty League) will take on the fourth seed in William Smith (11-7, 4-3) on Friday at noon. The winner of the semifinal match will advance to the Liberty League Championship game, to be played Saturday at 9 a.m.
In the other semifinal, second-seeded Vassar (15-4, 6-1) will take on third-seeded St. Lawrence (10-9, 5-2) at 3 p.m.
Skidmore has won the last 15 matches in Liberty League Tournament play during their six-time championship run, dating back to the 2010-11 season.
The Thoroughbreds, ranked 20th in the latest Oracle/ITA Division III women's tennis rankings, are 4-2 in the last six matches, only falling to ranked foes in No. 18 Brandeis and No. 2 Middlebury.
Skidmore boasts one of the league's top talents in
Ada Wiggins, who's putting up a dominant freshman campaign playing at first singles. Wiggins, the 11th-ranked singles player in the Northeast region, is 11-2 in dual matches this season, and 15-8 in all singles matches.
Renee Karchere-Sun has also had a solid rookie campaign, going a team-best 19-7 overall at singles, playing in the middle of the lineup. This team is deep, with
Danielle Giannetti (10-3) and Fuca (8-7) also performing well in dual action.
In doubles, the duo of junior
Michelle Fuca and senior
Madie Benn have been solid at No. 1, with eight victories in dual play. Wiggins and junior
Brianna Greene have also been solid as a doubles pair in dual action, going 8-4. Over the last few months, the pair of freshman
Jessica Ampel and junior
Alexa Goldberg have proven to mesh well at No. 3, winning four matches together in the spring season.
William Smith clinched the fourth seed in the final day after an 8-1 victory against Rensselaer, and are the 20th-ranked team in the Northeast region. The Herons also have a solid rookie in Allie Perron, going a team-best 16-10 in singles play, and is 8-5 at No. 3. Senior Hannah More, the Liberty League's reining Player of the Year, has gone 11-6 in singles at No. 1. More and fellow senior Katarina Kostovic are a team-best 9-3 as a doubles duo this year, playing all 12 matches in the top spot. Junior Michaelann Denton and Perron are right behind them with an 8-2 record in doubles matches, including a 7-2 mark at No. 2.
Skidmore shut out William Smith 9-0 the last time these teams met, back on Feb. 25 in Saratoga Springs.
