Lady Generals finish excellent season with good play at Nationals

Flushing Meadows, NY – The HCCC women’s tennis team capped off a remarkable season with a strong showing at the Nationals on October 26-28.

The 2011 season was a grand one for the women’s tennis program.  They posted a perfect 6-0 record in conference play and went 9-1 for the regular season.  Then they won the Region III Championship and earned a berth in the national Division III championship, held at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows.

Photo:  The team visited the National Tennis Center's Memorial Garden – from left: Abby Smith, Dani Fadness, Jaclyn Milillo, Mary Galway, Maggie Mulligan, Tiffany Leiphart

Ten colleges participated in the tournament.  Herkimer finished seventh.

Final team standings-

Rock Valley- 33

Mercer-27

Fashion Institute- 26.5

Ocean CC-23

Brookdale- 19

Onondaga 16.5

Herkimer- 12.5

Delhi- 10

Kingsborough-5

Suffolk- 4

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Photo:  Herkimer First Doubles team of Maggie Mulligan and Tiffany Leiphart changes courts between games – Beautiful Arthur Ashe Stadium is in the background

Head Coach Katie Scanlon had these comments about the team’s performance:

“Herkimer earned 12.5 points at the national tournament for a seventh place finish.  We saw great tennis from all of our girls this weekend which makes me very excited for next season.   Herkimer will return four players for what will be a promising Fall 2012 season.

“First Singles player Maggie Mulligan played her best tennis of the year.  Maggie came out to play and win.  She breezed through her first round match, then played her match of the season in a tight quarterfinal over #2 seed Rock Valley.  Maggie lost in 6-4 in the third set after being tied at 4-4 and playing many long deuce battles. 

“First year students Mary Galway and Jackie Milillo had great tournaments, winning points on both the singles and doubles sides of the event.   

“Co-Captains Abby Smith and Dani Fadness finished their season with identical statistics.  Both finished the season with 15-1 singles records. Both had a rough quarterfinal round where they endured their first singles losses of the season.  They rebounded to win the back draw in their flights. In the quarterfinal of the 3rd singles back draw, Abby Smith battled back from 2-6  and two match points to win the match 9-7.  Strangely, Dani Fadness found herself in the exact same predicament in the quarterfinal of the 4th back draw – down 2-6.  Dani rallied to with the next six games in a row to win the match 8-6.  As a doubles team, Dani and Abby played a great tournament, winning the quarterfinal vs. Brookdale in an intense three-set match under the lights. They followed up with a hard-fought loss against a highly accomplished FIT doubles team.  These two girls have been the heart of Herkimer tennis for the last two years and will be missed.  Between the two of them they have earned HCCC five individual championships over the last two years (4 singles, 1 doubles). “ 

Individual results-

1st singles-

First round-Maggie Mulligan d. Paulisha Thomas (Kingsboro CC) 6-0, 6-0

Quarterfinal- 2 seed Alice Swanson (Rock Vally CC)  d. Maggie Mulligan 2-6,6-3, 6-4  

2nd singles-

First round- Tiffany Leiphart (bye)

Quarterfinal-2 seed and eventual champion Mikaela Chua(Ocean CC) d. Tiffany Leiphart 6-2, 6-4

Backdraw- Chelsea White (Onondaga CC)d. Tiffany Leiphart 8-6

3rd singles-

First round- Abby Smith (bye)

Quarterfinal- eventual champion Nicole Beck (Rock Valley CC) d. Abby Smith 6-2, 6-2

Back draw (semifinal) – Abby defeated Ewa Szyszko (Mercer) 9-7 …Abby came back from a 2-6 deficit to win the match.

Back draw (Final) – Abby wins over Shahnoza Kahramonova (Kingsboro) by default 

4th singles-

First round- Dani Fadness (bye)

Quarterfinal- defeated by Niki Philipps (FIT) 6-1, 6-3

Back draw- (semifinal) Dani defeated Kerri Cetin (Suffolk CC) 8-6… like Abby came back from 2-6 to win the match.  Won 6 straight games.

Back draw- (Final) Dani defeated Christine Flask (Onondaga CC) 8-1

5th singles-

First round- Nika Munoz (FIT) defeated Jackie Milillo 6-4, 4-6, 6-2

Backdraw- (semifinal) Jackie defeated Miranda Kass (Suffolk CC) 8-1

Back draw- (final) Jackie defeated Brittany Beveridge (Brookdale CC) 8-5

6th singles-

First round- Mary Galway (bye)

Quarterfinal- Mary defeated Sabrina Giaquinto (Suffolk CC) 6-0, 6-1

Semifinal- Eventual Champion-Jessica McHugh (FIT) defeated Mary 6-1, 6-1

1st doubles-

First round- Mulligan/Leiphart (bye)

Quarterfinal- Beck/Lakic (Rock Valley CC) d. Mulligan/Leiphart 6-3, 6-1

Back draw- Bernstein/Cabey (FIT) d. Mulligan/Leiphart 8-3

2nd doubles-

First round- Fadness/Smith (bye)

Quarterfinal- Fadness/Smith d. Manning/Nardea (Brookdale CC) 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(5)

Semifinal- 2 seed-Julio/Pink (FIT) d. Fadness/Smith 7-5, 6-3

3rd doubles-

First round- Galway/Milillo d. Gatling/Williams (Kingsboro CC) 6-0, 6-0

Quarterfinal- McHugh/Munoz (FIT) d. Galway/Milillo 6-1, 6-3