POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (April 20, 2008) -- The Vassar tennis team, ranked #7 in the Northeast region, celebrated senior day with a 6-3 win over visiting MIT, the #10 team in the region.

Vassar posted a 2-1 lead after the doubles. At #1, Hoover and Hansen, the #6 ranked doubles team in the Northeast region, defeated Vassar's Kliman and Romita, ranked #8 regionally, in a match that featured all four players attacking the net consistently. Vassar's #2 pair, Pontee and Steele, and #3 pair, Barnett and Burks, both played consistent, smart tennis to clinch wins by margins of 8-3 and 8-5, respectively. Both pairs worked the ball around the court with precision, setting up partners at the net for finishing shots and by attacking the net together.

In singles, senior Courtney Burks added a win at #6 singles to her undefeated streak in her Vassar career posting a perfect 6-0, 6-0 victory. "She kept the ball deep and played consistently which is Courtney's strength. The match was much more competitive than the score indicated, but Courtney made very few errors to post the perfect score," said Vassar coach Kathy Campbell. At the #1 spot, Hansen, the #4 ranked singles player in the region defeated Vassar's Pontee, the #7 ranked player in the region by a 6-4, 6-1 margin. The team match score stood at 3-2, Vassar until the next set of matches finished.

MIT's lone senior, Mariah Hoover then captured the #2 singles match 6-1, 6-2 over Vassar senior Kelly Barnett to even the team match score at 3-3. Shortly thereafter, Alexis Jacobson, Vassar's #5 singles, won her match 6-4, 6-2 just before teammate Krista Romita won the #4 singles match 6-4, 6-1 to put Vassar up 5-3 clinching a Vassar team victory. The #3 match was just finishing the first set at this point with Vassar's Elysa Kliman winning it in a tiebreak, 7-6 (5). Kliman had established a 5-3 lead in the set when MIT's Diskin gained momentum posting a strong comeback to 5-5. In the second set both players battled with Diskin taking a 4-3 lead, then Kliman tied it at 4-4, Diskin winning the next game for a 5-4 lead and in the end Kliman finished very strong winning the next three games to close the set and match 7-5.

"I am so proud of the way our team played with authority, purpose and confidence from the very first strike of the ball in today's match. That is something we've been striving for and working on in practice. We had lots of positive energy on every court today. That is an important key in team tennis. Krista Romita played one of the very best singles matches in her three-year career. She was patient and accurate from the baseline, her transition game was smooth and smart and this enabled her to utilize her strong net game to consistently finish the points. She played better and better as her match went on. It was also one of the strongest matches our #2 doubles pair of Nicole Pontee and Jamison Steele have played this year. They hit penetrating shots, yet set the point up with precision -- getting to the net together and/or setting up the partner at the net to finish the points. Both players also served extremely well."

The Vassar seniors closed out their regular season match play today. All three have earned Liberty League all-academic honors (3.2+ GPA) and ITA Scholar-Athlete Awards (3.5+ GPA). Burks is 18-0 overall in singles (16-0) this year. In doubles she is 55-16 overall for a total record of 73-16 (89 matches, 82%). Barnett is 53-24 in singles and 23-1 in doubles for an overall record of 76-25 (101 matches, 75%). Kliman is 57-22 in singles and 42-20 in doubles for a combined record of 99-42 (141 matches, 70%). In their four year career, the Vassar team has posted a 63-17 record (79% to date), has won four New York State Championship titles and three Liberty League Championship titles (to date). The team has also earned top eight Northeast regional rankings and top 26 national rankings each year among 366 Division III tennis teams.

Vassar enters next weekends Liberty League Championship as the six time defending champion with a 13-4 record this year.

Vassar 6, MIT 3

Doubles
1. Hansen/Hoover (MIT) def. Kliman/Romita (Vassar) 8-3
2. Pontee/Steele (Vassar) def. McCree/Wang (MIT) 8-3
3. Barnett/Burks (Vassar) def. Diskin/Pikhart (MIT) 8-5

Exhibition
4. Jacobson/Anderson (Vassar) def Weinberg/Rees (MIT) 8-4

Singles
1. Hansen (MIT) def. Pontee (Vassar) 6-4, 6-1
2. Hoover (MIT) def. Barnett (Vassar) 6-1, 6-2
3. Kliman (Vassar) def. Diskin (MIT) 7-6(5), 7-5
4. Romita (Vassar) def. Wang (MIT) 6-4, 6-1
5. Jacobson (Vassar) def. McCree (MIT) 6-4, 6-2
6. Burks (Vassar) def. Dohlman (MIT) 6-0, 6-0

Exhibition

7. Steele (Vassar) def. Rees (MIT) 8-1
8. Anderson (Vassar) def. Weinberg (MIT) 8-2
9. Dunn-Rankin (Vassar) def. Smyth (MIT) 8-1