BEL AIR, Md.—Freshman Agnes Burke (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace) claimed the No. 6 singles title and the team of freshman Ashley Sherinsky (Fallston, Md./Fallston) and sophomore Katrina Tiedeman (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford) earned the win at No. 1 doubles as the Harford women's tennis finished second at the Harford NIT Tournament last weekend on the sun-drenched courts of HCC.
The Fighting Owls amassed a total of 15 points, behind tournament champion Gloucester County College, which totaled 17 points. After a last place finish at last year's NIT with zero points, the Community College of Rhode Island proved itself to be a nationally-competitive team with a third place finish with 12 points. Mercer Community College and the Fashion Institute of Technology placed fourth and fifth, respectively, with six points, while Hagerstown Community College, Cecil Community College, and Montgomery College-Rockville rounded out the field with four, three, and zero points.
Burke dominated her first match, as she defeated Emma Jonsson of Mercer, 6-0, 6-2, but faced tougher competition in the form of Gloucester's Alyssa Arabia in the semifinals. Burke dropped the first set, 3-6, won the second set tiebreaker, 7-3 to take the set, 7-6 and then won the third and final set, 10-6 to earn the match win.
The finals match saw Burke defeat Stephanie Benrimon of FIT in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4 to claim the championship title.
“Agnes had a phenomenal tournament and to win a title with teams that are traditionally national contenders is a good step in the right direction,” said head coach George Budelis.
The doubles of team of Sherinsky and Tiedeman dominated from the start, losing just two games in each of their three matches. The duo downed the Mercer team of Gall and Wolff, 8-2, then took on Doyle and Doyle of Hagerstown, beating them 8-2 and finally won an 8-2 decision over Cecil's Andrade and Meholic.
Sherinsky also played at No. 1 singles and dispatched her first opponent from FIT, Lindsay Halquist, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 10-6, but fell to Gloucester's Kristin Abdallah, 6-2, 6-3 in the semis.
Tiedeman made it to the final match of the No. 2 singles, winning her first two matches, 6-3, 6-4 and 6-2, 6-3 over FIT's Monica Wood and Mercer's Rebecca Wolff, respectively. In the finals, she faced arguably one of the best players in this year's tournament, but in the end the heat of the day and the strength of her opponent overcame the sophomore, as she fell, 0-6, 7-6 (1), 10-5 to Ashley Helm of Rhode Island.
Freshman Courtney Brewer (Street, Md./North Harford) also advanced to the finals of her respective bracket as she defeated FIT's Bridget Quinn, 6-4, 6-2 and Gloucester's Amanda Berry, 6-0, 6-2 at No. 3 singles. Brewer fell to Hagerstown's Carrie Martin, 6-4, 7-5 in the championship finals to finish as the runner-up.
Brewer teamed with freshman Kelsey Strine (Abingdon, Md./Edgewood), who also played No. 4 singles, losing in the first match, 6-4, 7-6 (4) to Sarah Osgerchian of FIT, to play No. 2 doubles, advancing to the semis thanks to the luck of the draw, but fell to Rhode Island, in a close, 8-6, match.
Freshman Kate Tiburzi (Fallston, Md./Fallston) also got lucky with the draw as she advanced to the semis of No. 5 singles but fell to Gloucester's Ali Crotier, who would be the eventual champion, 7-5, 6-3. Tiburzi also teamed with sophomore Julie Strong (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) to round out the final performance, at No. 3 doubles, as they advanced to the finals, defeating Brophy and Jonsson of Mercer, 8-3, and Knowlton and Williams of Rhode Island, 8-2, before falling to Jengehino and Abdallah of Gloucester, in a hard-fought, 8-7 match.
The Fighting Owls return to competition on Wednesday, Sept. 17 when they welcome Cecil for a dual match at 3:30 p.m.
