Howdy boys and girls! I’m her to atone for my sin of poor Twitter coverage of this weekend’s ITA Northeast Regional by bringing you a quick recap of the tourney. Our new Central writer has been KILLING IT with her Twitter updates and recap of the Central ITA, so I really gotta pick it up on my end. This weekend’s Northeast ITA kicked us off with some exciting tennis and gave us our first peek at what some of these teams and player have up their sleeves. NYU had a phenomenal weekend and took home the doubles and singles titles. But the real story of the weekend was freshman. The singles final was comprised of two first years, and several freshmen absolutely crushed their collegiate debuts. Looking forward to a lot more good tennis from all these players and teams!
NYU
NYU absolutely dominated the Northeast ITA this weekend. They put 5 players through to the quarters, 3 into the semis, and ultimately had freshman Karina Jensrud taking home the singles title. And their singles prowess didn’t slow them down at all in dubs. They sent 2 teams through to the semis, and had the freshman-junior pairing of Balyk and Buraya triumph over Skidmore’s Fukushige and Thongphok to claim the doubles title. Anchored by a strong senior class that includes Coco Kulle and Judy Kam, NYU is really looking strong this fall. Kulle made a run to the singles semis and Kam showed great singles play, too, before falling to teammate Jensrud in the quarters. The two then paired up to also make it to the doubles semis. Strong at the top and complemented by some fiery freshmen in Karina Jansrud and Anastasiia Balyk, this NYU team has me buzzing. I mean, how cool is it to win a huge tournament in your college tennis debut?! Excited to see how Jensrud does at the ITA Cup later this fall. In past years, I’ve felt that Skidmore has really dominated this ITA, but this dynamite showing by NYU is really getting me excited to see what else this team can do this year.
Skidmore
In years past, it’s been easy to think of the Northeast ITA being domiated by Skidmore, with a few challengers from NYU, Vassar and TCNJ, among others. This year, it felt like a bit of a different story, but that’s not to say Skidmore didn’t thrive. Skidmore put both Dea Kovala and Lily Feldman through to the quarters of singles and had 5 players make the third round. Then, in doubles, Skidmore star Risa Fukushige paired up with freshman Chanhtel Thongphok to make a run to the finals before falling in a tight 3-setter to the NYU pair. The T-breds are a young team this year with only 4 upperclassmen on their roster. Their freshman had strong showings at regionals, and I’m thinking this is only the start of what is yet to come for the T-breds. I’m definitely not going to write this team off, as they’ve shown themselves to be serious challengers come spring season, and after some phenomenal results last spring, I have a feeling they’re just building to continue their upward climb.
Vassar
Vassar was led by freshman Miriam Gandham’s march to the finals. Gandham then paired up with junior Yekta to make it to the doubles semis before falling to eventual champions Balyk and Buraya of NYU. Despite many players falling in the second round, Vassar saw great success in consolation singles, picking up some great wins over players from TCNJ and Union. With some solid matchplay this weekend, I’m looking forward to seeing what this Vassar team can do come springtime. They clearly have a lot of talent, and I can’t wait to see what they do!
TCNJ / RPI / William Smith / Hamilton / SLU / UR
So I’m still getting to know about these teams, and frankly, my knowledge of them is bleak at best (if you’re interested in being a regional women’s writer, hmu!!), but I’m getting there and trying, so please bear with me. TCNJ had a great ITA, sending both Davidov and Roarty to the third round of singles, and also getting two dubs pairings into the quarters. RPI also sent Mednikova to the third round of singles, and all teams got some good matchplay in the first and second rounds.
Overall, we got a glimpse of some awesome tennis this past weekend, and it’s been so fun to see as new players emerge. That’s all I’ve got for this short recap, but don’t despair, we’ve got another NE ITA this weekend, that I’ll be sure to cover for all you D3 fans!