ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's tennis team began – and ended – their fall dual-match season in style on Tuesday afternoon, rolling to an 8-1 victory at Eastern. Senior Christine Palazzolo did not drop a single game in her two matches for the Bears, who won their fall contest for the ninth time in the past ten seasons.
Junior Ariel Danziger and freshman Caitlyn Sorelle continued their early doubles success, cruising to an 8-0 sweep of Lauren Good and Olivia Weaver in the second flight to improve to 5-0 together; the fledgling partnership captured the Blue 2 title at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships last month. Danziger's five doubles victories have moved her into third in school history (32), and the junior already is third all-time at Ursinus in overall wins (58).
Palazzolo and senior Robin Alsher combined for an 8-0 rout opposite Emily Thomas and Leslie Henry at third doubles, and juniors Ashley Nguyen and Aileen Bevard collected their first win of the season, 8-4 over Emma Paugh and Amanda Riiff on the first court. Bevard moved past Jimena Talavera (2009-12) and into fourth in Ursinus women's tennis history with her 52nd career victory.
Paugh outlasted Bevard 1-6, 6-1, 10-5 on the top singles court, but the Bears experienced little trouble otherwise, conceding a total of just eight games over the other five individual matches. Palazzolo double-bageled Thomas 6-0, 6-0 at sixth singles, and Sorelle, Nguyen, and Danziger were all 6-1, 6-0 victors against Riiff, Henry, and Weaver, respectively.
Alsher rounded out Ursinus' lineup with a 6-4, 6-1 decision against Good in the fifth flight.
The women's tennis team will spend the next five months training before opening the spring portion of their schedule against Juniata on March 6 in Orlando, the first of five matches on the annual spring break trip.