Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Tennis Advances Past Lehigh, Will Host Army in Patriot League Tournament Final Sunday
4/25/2009 8:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 25, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. - With its Saturday afternoon 4-0 win over Lehigh, Bucknell's women's tennis team is heading into familiar situation: a Patriot League Tournament final match against Army. The Bison (15-6) defeated the Mountain Hawks (6-11) for the fifth time in a row to earn a meeting against Army in the championship match at noon Sunday on Bucknell's Fieldhouse Courts. It is the fifth consecutive year that the Bison have taken on the Black Knights in the final match of the Patriot League Tournament.
"We weren't looking past Lehigh. We had a tight 4-3 match with them during the regular season and we were focused on today," Bison head coach Rebecca Helt said.
The No. 2 seeded Bison won two doubles matches in the first and second flights, with sophomore Lauren Lucido and senior Paulina Gamboa handily winning their match against Lehigh's top pairing 8-0. Juniors Carlin Calcaterra and Tania Varela won 8-1 over the Mountain Hawk's pairing of Julie Arthofer and Elizabeth Piscitelli.
Bucknell was led in singles play by their top doubles tandem of Lucido and Gamboa, who grabbed individual wins also in No. 2 and No. 3 singles, respectively.
The cap for the Bison win was provided by freshman Dumitrita Iepuras, who defeated Piscitelli 6-3, 6-1 in the fourth spot of singles. Bucknell had also commanding leads in the three other singles matches that were not completed.
Now the Bison will prepare for Sunday's match against a most familiar foe: Army. Army has won the Patriot League Championship for the past four years and eight of the last 10 years.
"For tomorrow's match, we're ready physically and we're ready mentally," Helt said. "We aren't going to get caught up in anything but the game plan."
In 2008, the Bison had their best showing against Army in the final match, where they battled and ultimately lost 4-3. The previous three years, Bucknell had fallen to the Black Knights 4-0. Army, the No. 1 seed, got an opening round bye and defeated Colgate 4-0 Saturday to make their 13th straight Patriot League final match.
Doubles:
1. Lauren Lucido / Paulina Gamboa (BU) def. Allison Schwartz / Ariela Cohen, 8-0
2. Tania Varela / Carlin Calcaterra (BU) def. Julie Arthofer / Liz Piscitelli, 8-1
3. Stacy Reich / Ruthie Furman (LU) ahead Dara Dwojewski / Ashley Globerman, 5-3
Singles:
1. Tania Varela (BU) ahead Allison Schwartz, 6-4, 5-1
2. Lauren Lucido (BU) def. Ariela Cohen, 6-3, 6-1
3. Paulina Gamboa (BU) def. Julie Arthofer, 6-1, 6-1
4. Dumitrita Iepuras (BU) def. Elizabeth Piscitelli, 6-3, 6-1
5. Dara Dwojewski (BU) ahead Stacy Reich, 7-5, 0-0
6. Ashley Globerman (BU) ahead Ruthie Furman, 6-3, 3-2
