POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (October 5, 2007) -- The Vassar College women's tennis team welcomed an opponent from just over the river this Friday afternoon, and sent them home soon thereafter, as they defeated SUNY New Paltz 8-1.

It was Vassar's third win of the fall season, and came after a tough 8-1 loss at Williams last weekend. The Brewers will travel to the New York State Championships the weekend of October 19 with a 3-1 record, where they will try to capture their sixth straight state title. New Paltz falls to a respectable 5-3 and will play at RPI on Sunday.

Vassar Head Coach Kathy Campbell was impressed by the improvement shown by New Paltz in the year since they last played.

“New Paltz has been getting so much better every year,” said Campbell. “This year they were not only much improved but also much steadier and smarter in terms of their shot selection. The scores don't necessarily indicate it, but those doubles matches were all really close.”

Vassar won all three of the doubles matches, with the number one duo of Krista Romita (Baltimore, MD/Roland Park Country Day) and Elysa Kliman (Toronto, ON, Canada/The Bishop Strachan School) leading the way.

“In particular, first doubles played a clean and crisp match,” praised Campbell. “They made a high percentage of first serves and had minimal errors. Across the board, we played really intelligently in terms of using well-placed shots and point-building kinds of balls. That's something we've been working on, and having the confidence to do it is another step forward.”

Doubles
1. Krista Romita/Elysa Kliman (VC) Def. Dana Lim/Eri Yamakawa (New Paltz) 8-2
2. Nicole Pontee/Jamie Steele (VC) def. Liz Beirne/Lyndsey Lovinger (New Paltz) 8-3
3. Kelly Barnett/Courtney Burks (VC) def. Lindsey Trifiletti/Stephanie Schara (New Paltz) 8-3
4. Liz Anderson/Caroline Dunn-Rankin (VC) def. Kerri Serkes/Alysa Zulli (New Paltz) 8-3 (Exh.)

Singles
1. Nicole Pontee (VC) def. Dana Lim (New Paltz) 6-0, 6-4
2. Eri Yamakawa (New Paltz) def. Krista Romita (VC) 6-7 (6-8), 6-2 (5-10)
3. Kelly Barnett (VC) def. Liz Beirne (New Paltz) 7-6 (7-2), 6-1
4. Elysa Kliman (VC) def. Lyndsey Lovinger (New Paltz) 6-1, 6-0
5. Jamie Steele (VC) def. Lindsey Trifiletti (New Paltz) 6-0, 6-1
6. Courtney Burks (VC) def. Stephanie Schara (New Paltz) 6-0, 6-0
7. Liz Anderson (VC) def. Allysa Zulli (New Paltz) 6-0 (Exh.)
8. Courtney Burks (VC) def. Allysa Zulli (New Paltz) 6-1 (Exh.)