Stony Brook Women Win America East Title and Qualify for the NCAA Tourney

April 27, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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The Stony Brook’s Women’s Tennis team has been on a rollercoaster ride all season long, from earning their first national ranking in program history, to heading up to Vestal, N.Y. where they won their fourth straight America East title, cruising past Binghamton and Albany to once again qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

“This never gets old,” Seawolves Head Coach Gary Glassman said. “This absolutely never gets old.”

Despite losing second singles player Jackie AltanSarnai, the Seawolves managed to bring in more talent than they already had, playing their best season to date, earning their first ever national ranking.

Freshmen Kristina Vozniak, New Yorker Elizabeth Tsvetkov and Yana Nikolaeva all contributed to the team’s effort, as the Seawolves only dropped three individual matches throughout all of conference play.

In the America East Championships, Stony Brook showed why they only lost one dual match on the year, playing their best tennis when it mattered most.

Tsvetkov avenged a loss against Binghamton from their regular season matchup by defeating Annie Dimuro at number five singles in straight sets in the Seawolves’ 4-0 win over the Bearcats in the semifinals.

Senior Polina Movchan cruised at number one singles, sophomore New Yorker Nadia Smergut bageled her opponent in the first set of her win at No. 3 singles and Stony Brook took the doubles point to advance to the finals, where they would face the third-seeded Albany Great Danes.

Tsvetkov, from Brooklyn, won again in the finals after clinching the overall match in the semifinals, helping the Seawolves take home the title in their 4-0 victory over Albany, in which the team took the doubles point, second singles, fourth singles and fifth singles.

Movchan, who won her fourth America East title, took home the Most Outstanding Player Award for the tournament.

“She’s really been the game changer for our program,” Glassman said. “What a career.”

“I told the girls a month and a half ago, there’s something special about this team,” Glassman said. “I said, ‘you all have created a culture,’ and that’s really what it is. It’s a culture, it’s a mentality, and that’s something that hopefully they’ll continue to pass along to the new kids that we have coming in.”

No. 1 Stony Brook 4, No. 3 Albany 0
Doubles

1. Smergut & Badoche (SBU) def. Scott & Torres (UA) 8-4
2. Movchan & Nikolaeva (SBU) led Kukkonen & Sala (UA) 7-4 (DNF)
3. Vozniak & Tsvetkov (SBU) def. Hermans & Ognjenovic (UA) 8-3

Singles
1. Polina Movchan (SBU) led Dajana Ognjenovic (UA) 6-1, 5-3 (DNF)
2. Kristina Vozniak (SBU) def. Mireille Hermans (UA) 6-4, 6-0
3. Nadia Smergut (SBU) led Alba Sala (UA) 7-5, 4-2 (DNF)
4. Adey Osabuohien (SBU) def. Cheryl Kukkonen, (UA) 6-0, 6-1
5. Elizabeth Tsvetkov (SBU) def. Ana Glumac (UA) 6-0, 6-2
6. Paulina Torres (UA) led Louise Badoche (SBU) 6-0, 3-5 (DNF)


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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