POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (June 21 2010)  -- Following a 19-3 season, one that saw the Vassar College women's tennis team win the Liberty League Championships for the 8th straight year and advance to the NCAA Division III Championships for the 8th straight season, the Brewers finished the season ranked 17th nationally among 388 Division III programs. That final ranking was the best since 2004, also a 17th national finish, and an improvement over last year's 21st final national ranking.

The Brewers, who finished ranked 7th in the 110-team Northeast Region, also earned the ITA All-Academic Team Award for the 15th consecutive year -- each year of the awards existence. This requires the team GPA to be 3.2 or above.

Additionally, eight of the ten eam members earned ITA Scholar-Athlete Award honors for earning a 3.5 or above GPA for the year, including Elizabeth Anderson, Joy Backer, Jennifer Beckerman, Caroline Dunn-Rankin, Nicole Pontee, Jennifer Ruther, Alyssa Roush and Natalie Santiago.

On the individual player front, several athletes finished the 2009-10 in distinctive fashion. Graduated senior Pontee earned a No. 8 national ranking, the best in her career and equals Hannah Palmer '91 for highest national singles ranking. As a junior, Pontee finished No. 12 nationally and as a sophomore was ranked No. #25 nationally.

his past season, Pontee finished No. 5 in the Northeast Region singles rankings. She took her 25-3 singles record into the NCAA Singles Championship where she advanced to the quarter finals defeating the #1 seed en route (6-4, 7-5). She finished the year 27-4 competing against 13 nationally ranked players and six other regionally ranked players.

In doubles player, Pontee and Backer, Vassar's No. 1 pair, earned a No. 19  national doubles ranking and a No. 7 Northeast Region ranking. For both players, this was their first national doubles ranking. They complied an 18-5 record together this year. Backer was 22-5 in doubles overall this year winning the No. 1 doubles flight of the Seven Sisters Championship with Nicole Block while Pontee competed in the No. 1 singles flight of that tournament where players compete in either singles or doubles.

In singles play, Beckerman, Vassar's No. 2 singles player, earned a #24 Northeast Region singles ranking. She also earned a regional singles ranking last year.