WEST WINDSOR, N.J.—Freshman Ashley Sherinsky (Fallston, Md./Fallston) earned an automatic bid to the 2008 ITA National Small College Championships after claiming the Flight A Singles title at the Wilson/ITA Northeast Regional Championship hosted by Mercer County Community College last weekend. The Harford women's tennis team also claimed the overall tournament title, amassing a total of 32 points.
Mercer County Community College finished as the runner-up with 27 points, followed by Gloucester County College (27), Fashion Institute of Technology (18), and Orange County Community College (15) to round out the top five. The Community College of Rhode Island (11), Brookdale Community College (10), Ocean County College (9), Montgomery College-Rockville (5) and Cecil College (3) rounded out the field of 10 teams.
Sherinsky was one of three representatives from Harford to claim a championship title as freshman Kate Tiburzi (Fallston, Md./Fallston) earned the Flight C Singles crown and teamed with sophomore Julie Strong (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) to capture the Flight B Doubles title.
Head coach George Budelis named Sherinsky and Tiburzi co-MVPs of the tournament, which marks the third straight competition that Tiburzi has received the honor. Tiburzi avenged her only individual loss this season by defeating Gloucester's Ali Crozier, the No. 1 seed in Flight C Singles, 6-3, 6-3 in the championship final. Tiburzi had previously fallen to Crozier during the No. 5 singles semifinal at the Harford NIT Tournament.
During her path to the final last weekend, Tiburzi advanced to the Round of 16 with a bye then dispatched Ocean's Rachel Bonafide, 6-2, 7-5 before handing Orange's Ashley Post two love sets, 6-0, 6-0 and advancing to the semifinals against Mercer's Emily Dow. Tiburzi earned a 6-2, 6-2 victory to advance to the finals where she downed Crozier for the title.
Freshman Agnes Burke (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace) also competed in Flight C Singles and advanced to the Round of 16 with a bye but fell to Crozier, 7-5, 6-4.
Sherinksy entered the Flight A Singles as the No. 4 seed and would eventually face the No. 1 seed, Mercer's Hillary Gall in the championship final, which the rookie won handily, 6-3, 6-4 to earn an automatic bid to the 2008 ITA National Small College Championships, which will be held in Mobile, Ala. from Oct. 16-19.
Sherinsky started the tournament off by advancing to the Round of 16 with a bye, where she faced and defeated MC-Rockville's Nadine Montforte, 6-0, 6-0 to move to the quarterfinals against Mercer's Rebecca Wolf, whom she beat 6-2, 6-4 to set up a semifinal match between Sherinsky and sophomore teammate Katrina Tiedeman (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford).
Tiedeman started the weekend off by defeating FIT's Breanna Carlson, 7-5, 6-3 and advanced to the Round of 16 against Cecil's Maria Andrade, the No. 2 seed of the tournament. In their last meeting during a dual match, Tiedeman fell to Andrade in three sets, but avenged that loss with a 6-4, 6-3 win last weekend to move to the quarterfinals where she faced yet another familiar foe.
Rhode Island's Ashley Helm downed Tiedeman in three sets during the No. 2 singles championship final at the Harford NIT Tournament, but Tiedeman came out the victor this time around with a 6-4, 6-3 decision that advanced her to the semifinals and pitted her against her doubles playing partner.
Sherinsky endured her toughest match of the weekend from her teammate and partner, but pulled out the 7-5, 6-3 win to move to the finals and the eventual Flight A Singles title.
Playing as a team in Flight A Doubles, the No. 1 seed of Sherinsky and Tiedeman made it to the final round, but fell in a hard-fought, 8-6, match to Mercer's Wolf and Gall. The Fighting Owls duo started the match down 0-6, but won the next six straight games before falling to Mercer's No. 2 seeded team.
On the way to the final match, Sherinsky and Tiedeman felled Caitlan Belladone and Jennifer Walicki from Orange, 8-0, in the Round of 16 before taking care of Brookdale's Robin Morris and Jess Reiff, the No. 5 seed, 8-6. In the semifinals, Harford's team faced Giana Marchese and Leanna Merceado of Orange, downing them, 8-6 in order to move to the final round, where they fell to Mercer.
The team of Tiburzi and Strong, which was seeded third in Flight B Doubles fared better as they claimed the title after defeating Mercer's Emily Dow and Maria Eldridge, 8-1, in the championship final.
Coming into the weekend tournament, Tiburzi and Strong had won their last two matches without dropping a game for a total of 16 straight game wins. After advancing to the Round of 16 with a bye, the duo paced Orange's Rachel Salin and Post, and extended their game-winning streak to 24 with an 8-0 victory. The semifinal round match against Gloucester's Lindsay Paulson and Sade Van Wijk, the No. 2 seed, saw Tiburzi and Strong up 3-0, but the Roadrunners broke their 27-game win streak to make the score 3-1 on the way to Harford's 8-3 win.
The only other competitor's for Harford included freshmen Kelsey Strine (Abingdon, Md./Edgewood) and Courtney Brewer (Street, Md./North Harford), both of which made it to the quarterfinal round of Flight B Singles. Strine advanced to the Round of 16 with a bye and defeated Gloucester's Amanda Berry 6-3, 6-1 before falling to Gloucester's No. 1 seed, Sara Wilkins, 6-4, 7-5. Brewer, the No. 2 seed also advanced to the Round of 16 with a bye and moved onto the quarterfinals after a default by Rhode Island's Rebecca Knowlton, falling to the No. 5 seed from FIT, Bridget Quinn, 6-2, 7-5.
The Fighting Owls return to competition on Tuesday when they host Hagerstown at 3:30 p.m.
