Women's Tennis Earns At-Large Berth In NCAA Division II National Championships, Eighth-Seeded Chieftains Square Off With Top-Seeded Kutztown In East Regional First Round Action Next Thursday
April 28, 2005
For the second time in the last three seasons, the Stonehill College women?s tennis team has earned a berth in the NCAA Division II National Championships, as the Chieftains of first-year Head Coach Pam Arpe received an at-large berth into the field of 64 teams announced Wednesday evening by the NCAA Division II Women?s Tennis Committee. Stonehill will be seeded eighth in the East Regional and will square off with top-ranked Kutztown in first round action next Thursday, May 5th at Noon in Kutztown, Pa.
Stonehill brings an overall record of 13-2 into the 2005 NCAA championships, as the Chieftains finished as the runner-up in both regular season and tournament play to Bryant in Northeast-10 Conference competition this spring. Arpe?s crew posted a league mark of 11-1 during the regular season, as both of Stonehill?s setbacks have come at the hands of Bryant.
Seven Chieftains earned all-Northeast-10 honors in both singles and doubles play this season, led by freshman Daniella Granato (Concord, Mass./Concord-Carlisle), who was a first team selection in both singles and doubles action with a perfect 13-0 mark at the number six singles spot while teaming with junior Ashley Todd (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth) for a 13-2 doubles record. Granato was the lone freshman in the conference to earn first team accolades in both singles and doubles play on the spring.
Senior Susan Noblin (Raynham, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) and freshman Elise Clark (Spring Lake, N.J./Saint Rose) joined Todd and Granato in earning first team all-Northeast-10 accolades in doubles play with a 9-3 mark on the year at the number three position, while juniors Jennifer Arcabascio (Salem, N.H./Central Catholic) and Anna Walsh (Dennis, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth) earned second team all-league honors with a combined 21-3 mark in singles play. Todd and senior Karen McAuley (Raynham, Mass./Coyle-Cassidy) earned third team all-conference honors in singles action after posting a combined 19-8 mark on the spring to date.
Stonehill and Kutztown are meeting for the first-time ever in next Thursday?s first round NCAA contest, as the Golden Bears of Head Coach Suresh Ramamurthi are the top seed in the East Region with a 13-1 overall record, as Kutztown advanced to the championship round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship against the second-seed in the East, Bloomsburg.
Stonehill earned its first-ever berth in the NCAA Division II Women?s Tennis Championships in 2003 after capturing the Northeast-10 regular season title, as the Chieftains fell to Millersville by a 5-0 final in East Regional first round action.
The winner of the Stonehill-Kutztown match advances to the second round of the East Regional to take on the winner of the other first round match to be played in Kutztown, Pa. between fourth-seeded Bryant and fifth-seeded Queens (N.Y.). That contest will take place on Friday, May 6th at Noon in Kutztown, Pa.
