GENEVA, NY – It was another outstanding effort for the Vassar women's tennis team on the final day of action at the 2019 ITA Northeast Regional Championships at William Smith College. The Brewers saw freshman
Miriam Gandham advance to the singles championship match where she shouldered a tough loss in three sets to a challenger from NYU. As a finalist in the championship round, Gandham has qualified for the ITA Nationals, which will be held from October 17-20 in Rome, Georgia.
"Mark and I are extremely proud of everyone's effort and performance," said Brewers head coach
Kathy Campbell. "It was a classy representation of Vassar and Vassar Athletics. I was impressed with our tenacity, composure and point construction, especially for this early in the season."
Gandham (Ann Arbor, MI) opened play on Monday with a 6-3, 6-4 semifinals win over New York University's Coco Kulle. The 10th-seeded player in the ITA Northeast singles field, Gandham advanced into the championship to face the 12th-seeded Karina Jensrud from NYU. It was a battle right from the get-go as the Vassar rookie opened with a 6-4 win in the first set. Jensrud came out the victor in the second set by a narrow 7-5 margin, but was able to carry that momentum into the third set, pulling away to win the Northeast Regional singles title by a 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 score.
Gandham, who was named the Liberty League Singles Performer of the Week earlier in the afternoon, had an outstanding tournament, sweeping through her matches for a 5-0 record through the semifinals.
She opened her first regional tournament with a victory over Ithaca's Alex Dyszewski (6-0, 6-2) and then bested Union's Megan Brown (6-1, 6-0), followed by Skidmore's Maya Lai (6-2, 6-2). Gandham then defeated ninth-seeded Anastasiia Balyk of NYU in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-2.
Ganham was the only Liberty League competitor in the regional semifinals, the other three from NYU.
In doubles quarterfinals action, Gandham and junior captain
Sarra Yekta (Las Vegas, NV) faced the TCNJ duo of rookies Jenny Landells and Charlotte Roarty, earning an 8-2 victory to move into the semifinals. They then squared-off against NYU's Anastasiia Balyk and Anna Maria Buraya. Despite solid momentum, the Brewers duo was unable to advance, falling by an 8-2 margin to the Violets' pair - who are the top-seeded team in the doubles ITA field.
Overall, the entire Brewers squad in attendance had solid efforts throughout the tournament, which began on Saturday. Vassar played six doubles matches over the weekend, rallying for a 4-2 record. In singles, the Brewers went 15-8 for a high quality and deep field throughout the tournament. Gandham is now the fourth Brewer in program history to qualify for the ITA Nationals singles competition. Previous qualifiers in singles have been Ava Sadeghi (twice) and
Kate Christensen. Vassar has also seen doubles qualifies in its history at ITA Nationals, including Debbie Sharnak and Kelly Graham, along with Samantha Schapiro and Sadeghi.
Vassar is now idle until Sunday, October 6 when it travels north to face Bard College in their Liberty League opener at 11am.
