Women's tennis an ace at ITA

Jake Berzoff-Cohen Guest Writer

The Vassar women’s tennis team has started their fall season the same way for the last three years. After recording consecutive wins in their first few matches, they rose above tougher competition at their first tournament, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) New England Championships.

In their first two matches against Union College and New York University, the Brewers won handily with identical scores of 8-1. This past weekend the team went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to compete in the ITA tournment and emerged with a series of well-earned wins.

The ITA tournament operates as a 64-player singles draw and a 32-team doubles draw, with only certain athletes from 20 different teams earning a bid. The Brewers sent six players to the tournament, constituting four singles and two doubles teams.

Nicole Pontee ’10, who plays first singles, advanced the farthest of the Vassar players, making it to the round of 16. The other singles players, Krista Romita ’09, Elysa Kliman ’08 and Kelly Barnett ’08, also played well in the tournament, advancing to the second round, the semi-finals of the consolation draw, and the first-round consolation match, respectively. Doubles team Kliman/Romita advanced to the second round, while the other doubles team, Pontee/Steele, made it to the semi-finals of the consolation draw.

Jamison Steele ’09, co-captain with Romita, was very excited about the team’s performance thus far. “As a team we did really well [at MIT]. I feel like we’re improving with every game,” said Steele. “Naturally, we’re a very close team. We support each other when we’re playing because we all want to see everyone succeed.”

Despite losing a few very strong seniors last year, including All-American Debbie Sharnak, Head Coach Kathy Campbell isn’t worried about the team’s prospects.

“Fortunately we have a tremendous amount of depth, so it’s just meant that a lot of returning players have gotten to move up in the lineup,” said Campbell. “We’ve always had a strong base and a great team dynamic; now we’re farming our new talent and [the team] is just as positive as it always has been.”

Campbell, who has coached the team for almost 30 years, has been a critical aspect of the team’s consistent success. She was named Coach of the Year for the ITA Northeast Region in 2001-2002, for the Liberty League in 2005, and three times for New York State in 2002, 2004 and 2005. Under her guidance, the team has qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III team championship six times, as well as championed Liberty League and New York State titles since 2002.

“So far we’re off to a fantastic start,” said Campbell. “They’ve done a great job as a group integrating the freshmen into the team…and I look forward to seeing how we improve.”

The team will look to continue their winning season in their next match on Sunday, Sept. 30 at Williams College. The last home match will be on Oct. 5 against SUNY New Paltz, in preparation for the important New York State Championships in late October.