POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 15, 2009) – The Vassar College women's tennis team may be ranked No. 22 in the country among Division III schools, but the squad proved on Sunday that it can take down some Division I competition as well. Vassar defeated Fordham University 8-1on Sunday at the Walker Field House and dropped just two sets throughout all nine matches.

Vassar improves to 4-1 overall and will next play at Muhlenberg College on February 27 at 4:00pm. Fordham drops to 3-6 and will compete in the Army Invitational at West Point the weekend of February 21.

The Brewers set the tone early by sweeping the doubles competition, 3-0. The No. 1 and 3 doubles squads cruised to 8-3 and 8-2 wins, and at the No. 2 slot Joy Backer (Del Mar, CA/Torrey Pines) and Krista Romita (Baltimore, MD/Roland Park Country Day) endured repeated threats by Bethany Boyle (Crystal Lake, IL/Elgin Academy) and Sarah Tremaine (Halifax, Nova Scotia/Citadel) to eventually prevail 9-7.

"The other team was serving for the match at 7-6," explained Vassar head coach Kathy Campbell. "And one reason that we got ourselves into that hole is we had trouble returning their serve in the middle of the match. Then, when they were serving for the match at 7-6 we did not miss one return. We managed that whole momentum shift really well. We stayed mentally tough, slowed down between points, and started hitting more consistently."

In singles, every match went to Vassar in straight sets except for No. 1, in which Fordham's Dominique Liguori (Harstdale, NY/The Ursuline School) knocked off Brewer junior Nicole Pontee (Flossmoor, IL/Homewood-Flossmoor) 6-3, 6-3.

"It's a great first match for Nicole, because when she gets pushed like that it brings out the better part of her game," said Campbell. "Now we can recognize what she might have to work on."

"The score might not show it, but that was a really close match," added assistant coach Mark Chace. "There were a lot of really closely-contested games."

At No. 3 singles, Vassar freshman Jennifer Beckerman (Santa Barbara, CA/Santa Barbara) held off a second-set push by Fordham's Tremaine to hold on for the win. Tremaine went up 3-0 in the second before Beckerman took five straight games to close out her match, 6-1, 6-4.

"I was really impressed with the way we played," reflected Campbell, "particularly for the first match of the spring season. I thought we executed that really fine balance of playing consistently but also playing aggressively. You can go out and be consistent, but not put much pace on the ball. We played aggressively from the first strike."


Doubles
1. Nicole Pontee/Jamison Steele (VC) def. Dominique Liguori/Martina Featherston (FU), 8-3
2. Joy Backer/Krista Romita (VC) def. Bethany Boyle/Sarah Tremaine (FU), 9-7
3. Alexis Jacobson/Jennifer Beckerman (VC) def. Kathryn Silva/Jane Carroll (FU), 8-2
4. (Exhibition) Caroline Dunn-Rankin/Nicole Block (VC) v. Brittany Russell/Alissa Roman (FU), 8-2

Singles
1. Dominique Liguori (FU) def. Nicole Pontee (VC), 6-3, 6-3
2. Joy Backer (VC) def. Martina Featherston (FU), 6-1, 6-0
3. Jennifer Beckerman (VC) def. Sarah Tremaine (FU), 6-1, 6-4
4. Alexis Jacobson (VC) def. Bethany Boyle (FU), 6-3, 6-3
5. Elizabeth Anderson (VC) def. Jane Carroll (FU), 6-1, 6-1
6. Jamison Steele (VC) def. Kathryn Silva (FU), 6-0, 6-2
7. (Exhibition) Nicole Block (VC) def. Brittany Russell (FU), 6-0, 6-0
8. (Exhibition) Caroline Dunn-Rankin (VC) def. Alissa Roman (FU), 6-0, 6-0