The women's tennis team dominated as the College hosted both Carnegie Mellon University and New York University in an eight-player singles draw and a four-team doubles draw this weekend. The action commenced at the sparsely populated College's Tennis Center located in the heart of campus.
The women were triumphant across the board. Third singles Katie D'Amato, fourth singles Kristen Turturiello, fifth singles Ayumi Yamazuki, sixth singles Katie Richards, seventh singles Karen Shih, eighth singles Kelli Emery and ninth singles Jackie Pryzbylkowski had two wins each.
First singles Kristen Klepacki won one of her matches as well. Sunday morning was marked by doubles play.
All of the women's doubles teams had a win, with Third Doubles leading the way with two solid performances.
The singles round robin began on the calm and sunny Saturday morning. On the men's side, eighth singles player Tarik Zunic put up a marvelous exhibition as he was the only Lion to go 2-0 on the day.
Victories were also posted by fifth singles Corey Ball and seventh singles Mike Ehrlich.
Senior Brian Hanley was defeated twice in singles matches. Carnegie Mellon junior Steven Ehrlich defeated Hanley in straight sets (6-3, 6-4). New York University senior Mike Thompson was able to overtake Hanley in straight sets with greater ease (6-1, 6-2).
Both Second and Third Doubles won a match each for the men. Head coach Scott Dichek has an impressive record in the world of tennis, both as a coach and as a player.
He arrived at the College in the fall of 2000 after coaching the tennis program at Allentown College. It took Dichek three years to transform Allentown's women's program. His struggling team once only had five players.
Under Dichek's guidence, the team became a contender in the Middle Atlantic Conference. Dichek also served as the number one singles and doubles player for Moravian College in 1992, earning MVP.
In addition, he was also the number one singles and doubles player for Voorhees High School, and was named their MVP twice. Despite only breaking even last year with an 8-8 record, he has led the men's team to 23-17 record over the past three years.
This season the team will work toward earning a bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
This will be challenge with the departure of graduated senior captain Marc Hill. Senior captain Hanley has the task of being the new first singles player.
"We have three newcomers that should help out our lineup," Coach Dichek said.
The women's team had an impressive season last year, ending the season 14-3. Over the past three years, they have gone 31-13 and are favored to place in the 2003 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Women's Tennis Championship.
The team has shown dominance in their division, winning the the NJAC Championship in both 2000 and 2001. NJAC honored Dichek in 2000 and 2001 with the NJAC Women's Tennis Coach of the Year award.
Upcoming Men's
Tennis Match
On Sept. 21-22, the men's team will travel to Haverford College to participate in the Philadelphia Area Team Tennis Tournament.
Upcoming Women's
Tennis Match
The women will be on the road this week for a pair of NJAC rival games against Kean University and Richard Stockton College.
