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University of Massachusets Athletics
Women's Tennis To Open In Syracuse
September 08, 1999 | Tennis
Sept. 8, 1999
AMHERST, Mass. - The University of Massachusetts women's tennis team is set to open up its fall season this weekend at the Sunity Life Tennis Classic from Sept. 11-12, hosted by Syracuse. The event is one of the top tournaments in women's college tennis. This year's field includes Boston University, Cornell, Marshall, Providence, Rutgers, Syracuse and Temple. The tournament will involve six singles flights and three doubles flights, in addition to consolation flights. Matches will begin at 9 a.m. on each day.
"The reasons they have these tournaments is so the coaches can see where their players stand at this point into the season," head coach Judy Dixon says. "This will be the one time this year where I will just sit back and observe. The best players in the East are invited to this tournament, and we certainly deserve to be in the mix. We are not going into this tournament with any goal in mind but to get started."
The Minutewomen are coming of a 16-9 season in which they placed third in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Five letterwinners return this year, in addition to three newcomers. All but one player will be competing this weekend. Junior captain Robyn Lebovitz will not compete due to the Rosh Hoshana holiday. Senior Ola Gerasimova is looking to have a solid final season at UMass. She was second on the team in singles victories last year, posting a mark of 19-14. Sophomores Annie Hamilton and Helena Horak hope to continue the success from their rookie campaigns. Hamilton went 18-9 in singles and 16-9 in doubles, while Horak posted a record of 14-13 in singles and 13-10 in doubles. Three new and talented freshmen will add a new twist to the squad this year. Katie Stammen, out of North Attleboro, Mass, went undefeated in her senior campaign at Bishop Feehan H.S., including going 65-1 during the regular-season. Elizabeth Ebert, a native of Westford, Mass, was a Lowell Sun All-Star as a senior at Westford Academy, while Pembroke, Mass., native, Lauren Perry, compiled a .650 win percentage in her four seasons at Silver Lake Regional H.S.