Season continues for tennis teams
The men's and women's tennis teams will compete this weekend in their respective NCAA Division III championship tournaments. The men, playing in their seventh consecutive tournament, will travel to Middlebury College for the regional. Skidmore will face Yeshiva at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 8. The winner of that match will play Williams College Friday, May 9, followed by the regional final at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 10. The women, playing in their 18th NCAA tournament, received a first-round bye and will head to Williams College to face the winner of Tufts and Scranton at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 10. The regional final starts at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 11.
Women’s tennis captured its fourth consecutive Liberty League title, beating Vassar College, 5-1, in the championship match. Lee Ford ’14 and Madeline Benn ’17, ranked third in the Northeast region in doubles, combined for an 8-5 win over the region’s 14th-ranked team. Melissa Hirsch ’14 and Yumi Karlshoej ’15 notched an 8-2 win at number-three doubles, giving the Thoroughreds (17-3), ranked 14th nationally, a 2-1 lead. Benn, Zoe Valella ’15 and Rachel Plevinsky ’14 all won their respective singles matches to seal with win for Skidmore. Benn won 6-3, 6-3 at number three, Valella rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 win at number four, and Plevinsky won 6-3, 6-3 at number five.
Men’s tennis topped Bard College, Hobart College, and RPI en route to its seventh Liberty League championship. The 20th-ranked Thoroughbreds opened the tournament with a 5-0 shutout over Bard in the quarterfinals before knocking off Hobart, 5-1, in the semifinal match. The team avenged a midseason loss against RPI with a 5-0 victory in the championship match. As in the previous two matches, Skidmore’s three doubles pairings went undefeated to open a 3-0 lead. Oliver Loutsenko ’14 and Danny Knight ’14, ranked fourth in the region in doubles, were 8-6 winners at number one, Jimmy Sherpa ’14 and Nick Tong ’16, ranked 13th in the region, ground out an 8-5 win at number two, and Miles Ransom ’15 and Gabe Steerman ’14 were 8-2 winners at number three. Sherpa and Knight clinched the championship winning at number two and number three singles, respectively. Sherpa defeated Jarrett Regler 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 and Knight battled back from a first set loss to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Riding concluded its season with a third-place finish at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Championships. Abbie Gibson ’16 picked up five points on day one with a second place finish in Novice on the Flat and Jessica Stoukides ’16 earned one point, placing sixth in intermediate on the flat. Stoukides added five points on day two with a second-place finish in Intermediate over Fences and Lauren Kuong ’17 was third in Walk-Trot-Canter, picking up four points. Ursala Green ’16 lifted the Thoroughbreds into the top three with eight points on the final day, finishing second in Open on the Flat and fourth in Open over the Fences. The team has now finished in the top five at the national championships for seven consecutive seasons.
Men’s and women’s crew competed at the New York State Championships. On the men’s side, the Varsity 8 boat of Rachel Bowen ’14, Brian Geraghty ’14, Skye Elliott ’16, Jake Dolgenos ’14, Will Armero ’17, Emerson O'Donnell ’15, Berke Tinaz ’16, Chris Hoch ’14, and Matt Kugler ’14 edged St. Lawrence by 0.33, earning a place in the grand finals for the first time in nearly 15 years. The second Varsity 8 boat of Julian Egan-Shuttler ’16, Spencer Berstler ’15, Robert Vail ’15, James Rimmer ’15, Christian Hemerling ’15, Nathan Canada ’17, Ben Allen ’17, Mike Koshakow ’17, and Henry Weis ’17 rowed to a seventh-place finish.
On the women’s side, the Varsity 4 boat of Annika Voss ’16, Kelly Isham ’16, Bailey Farrell ’14, Sukie Emerson ’16, Martha Prince ’14 and the Novice 8 boat of Gina Gonzalez-Roundey ’17, Ryan Springer-Miller ’17, Cassandra Eddy ’17, Michaela Ritz ’17, Sarah Landgraf ’17, Jamie Scherzer ’17, Molly Goldstein ’17, Emily Savarese ’17 and Lilly Philbrick ’17 both took sixth. The teams travel to the ECAC National Invitational Rowing Championships in Worcester, Mass., Friday and Saturday , May 10-11.
Baseball knocked off Middlebury College before dropping its final series of the season against Clarkson University. Mat Marino ’17 went 3-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored, and Jeff Spindel ’14 was 3-for-5 with an RBI against Middlebury. Erik Watkins ’14 was 3-for-4 with three RBI and added five putouts and five assists to help the Thoroughbreds secure the 10-8 win. The team complied an overall record of 10-25 and a conference mark of 3-19 this season.
Softball finished the regular season with a sweep of New England College, but the team saw its run ended in the Liberty League playoffs with losses against RPI and the University of Rochester. Brittany Osborn ’17 went 3-for-4 with two RBI and May-Lin McEvoy ’16 was 2-for-3 with three RBI in the team’s 13-4 win in its opening game against New England College. Osborn was dominant in a 10-2 win in game two, going 3-for-3 with a double and three runs scored, and Cassie Fishkin ’16 was 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. Fishkin also went the distance on the mound, allowing two runs on six hits with two strikeouts. Lauren Fortunato ’17 extended her hitting streak to 12 games with hits in both postseason contests and Abby Shea ’15 had two RBI against the University of Rochester. The team made the program’s second appearance in the Liberty League tournament and first since 2010 without any seniors on its roster. ~ By Dan St.-Jacques
