Women's tennis eyes NCAA tournament action

On Monday, Skidmore's men's and women's tennis teams each received berths in the 2011 NCAA tournament. Both teams will play at Amherst this weekend, with the women taking on Castleton in the first round on Friday, May 13. The winner of that match will meet Middlebury in the second round on Saturday.   The men received a first-round bye and will face TCNJ Saturday with the winner then playing the winner of the Amherst-Roger Williams/UMass Dartmouth match. 

Women's tennis won its seventh Liberty League title and first since 2000 after defeating Vassar 6-3 in Sunday's league championship at William Smith. The Thoroughbreds (10-8) opened the tournament with an  8-1 win over William Smith in the semifinals. Senior Rachel Loeb (Greenwood Village, Colo.) posted a 3-1 record at number-one singles and number-one doubles, including a perfect 2-0 at number-one singles. Freshmen Sophia Bryan-Ajania (San Rafael, Calif.) and Molly Nolan (Montauk, N.Y.) each posted 4-0 records on the weekend.

Riding, last year's national champion, had a second-place finish this year. The Thoroughbreds, with 22 points, tied with St. Lawrence to end 11 points behind first-place Centenary. Top individual performers included Alexandra McGuire finishing first in the Novice on the Flat. Hanae Kimura won the Individual Novice on the Flat, Victoria Neff was second in the Walk-Trot Canter and Julia Mazarella finished second in the Intermediate over Fences.  

Baseball went 2-3 this week, clinching the second seed in the weekend's Liberty League tournament at Rensselaer. On Tuesday, sophomore Bobby Stafutti (East Hanover, N.J.) earned the win and junior Zack Rudman (Pittsford, N.Y.) had two RBI, including a solo home run. Over the weekend, they took on first-place Rensselaer and picked up a 14-1 win Sunday. Rudman earned the win to improve to 4-1 and senior Zach Brown (Victor, N.Y.) blasted his first collegiate home run. Skidmore ended the regular season with a 26-11 overall record and 16-6 mark in league play.

The 11 ^th-ranked men's lacrosse season ended after a 13-12 double overtime loss to Rensselaer in Friday's Liberty League semifinal. Senior Matt Levesque (Duxbury, Mass.) had five goals and an assist, while sophomore Mike Holden (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) recorded three goals and an assist and classmate Bryan Connolly (Babylon, N.Y.) finished with a goal and four assists. Junior goalie Connor Dowling (Darien, Conn.) finished with 15 saves. The Thoroughbreds ended the season with an 11-4 record.

Women's lacrosse suffered a 10-7 loss to top-seed Hamilton (ranked third nationally) in the Liberty League semifinals. Senior Kimberly Segalas (Stamford, Conn.) scored four goals to become Skidmore's all-time leading scorer with 199 career points. Classmate Lindsay Stavola (Montauk, N.Y.) finished with a goal and two assists and junior goalie Rachel Klein (Far Hills, N.J.) made six stops in goal. The Thoroughbreds finished the 2011 season with a 10-8 record. ~ By Cody Berschwinger