ASTON, Pa. – The Neumann University women's tennis team have made their way to the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) playoffs as the No. 3 seed and earned a semifinal battle against No. 2 Marywood University.
The Knights (9-6 overall, 8-2 CSAC) walk into the playoffs on a five match win streak. They return back the playoffs after a three year hiatus. In 2009, the women's tennis team was CSAC runners-up, as they lost to Gwynedd-Mercy College in the Championship match.
This was to be a season where the Knights were supposed to be on the outsiders looking in, as the preseason coaches' poll indicated the Knights were to finish fifth, just one spot shy of a playoff berth. The belief and breakthrough in the season came at the hands of Cabrini College. The Cavaliers were tagged to be the third in preseason coaches' poll and someone forgot to tell Coach Chamberlain's team how good they were to be. The Knights won 5-4 and they have been a strong side since the win. The win seemed to validate their hard work over the summer. “The Cabrini game was a huge turning point in our season, because we felt if we could beat them that we could beat anyone in the CSAC,” said Coach Chamberlain.
Marywood University (9-3 overall, 9-1 CSAC) has earned the right to be at the No. 2 spot. They were tied for first place as they played Gwynedd-Mercy (the other team undefeated in the CSAC) for the No. 1 seed. The Griffins won 6-3 for the top seed on Saturday October 13 to finish the regular season matches.
It seemed so long ago, but the Knights competed against the Pacers on September 9th when they lost to Marywood 7-2. Gabrielle Porcelli and Teresa Kozin won their second doubles contest 8-3 and Breanne Klar won first singles, 3-6, 6-4 (10-5). Encouraging signs for the Knights is that they only lost one other conference match along the way to top seed Gwynedd-Mercy.
Cherie Allen, Porcelli and Sarah Schroder all boast a 6-2 CSAC record in singles play. Heather Nicholson is 4-2 in sixth singles, Klar is 4-3 at first singles and Kozin is 4-4 in fourth singles. In doubles, the duo of Kozin/Porcelli leads the group with a 7-1 CSAC record. Allen/Nicholson are 5-1 and Klar/Schroeder are 5-3.
Porcelli is the only senior and leads the young group (one junior, three sophomores and one freshman) into the playoffs.
“Gabrielle has been such a great leader for us this year. I don't know if we would have accomplished what we have done to date without her leadership,” replied Coach Chamberlain. “But the credit goes to the team as they all performed so well this year.”
The No. 3 Knights compete against No. 2 Marywood in the semifinals on Friday, October 19 and will follow the No. 1 Gwynedd-Mercy vs. No. 4 Keystone College match starting at 9 a.m. The matches will be played at the Northwood Racquet and Fitness Club in Easton, Pa. The Finals will be held at the same location on Saturday October 20, slated for a 2 p.m. start.
To follow the action on Friday, follow the CSAC on Twitter @CSACsports
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