Oneonta, NY – In what was some of the best quality Division III women's tennis you can see took place on the Heissan Tennis Courts on the campus of SUNY Oneonta.  The Red Dragons dropped a heartbreaker to the New Paltz Hawks 5-4.  In recent history it was one of the closest matches the two rivals have played in years.

The doubles saw the number three squad of freshmen Rebecca Macdonald (Brooklyn/Leon M. Goldstein) and Madeline Carswell (Albany/Bethlehem) join together for the second day in a row and today they also found success.  Carswell and Macdonald were dominant at the net and with great serving dominated their New Paltz opponents cruising to an 8-2 win.  The feature doubles match was at number one flight in a contest that lasted over 90 minutes.  Sophomore Julieta Eulau (Oceanside/Oceanside) and senior Alyssa Brault (Rochester/Churchville-Chili) traded service holds until the Red Dragon duo broke to go up 5-4.  The break did not hold up and they were later service broken themselves.  With New Paltz serving for the match Eulau and Brault broke serve again to tie the match at 7-7.  Then they won the next two games and sent the number one Hawks tandem down to an emotional 9-7 win.

The singles was as equally dramatic.  With a 2-1 lead going into the stanza Oneonta quickly ran off two more singles wins.    Sophomore Mya Lipscomb (Peekskill/Walter Panas) continues to absolutely dominate her opponents in singles completion.  Lipscomb yet again keeps her singles streak unbeaten in the fall season for two years and turned in an impressive 6-1, 6-0 win.  Freshman Olivia Fraser (Queensbury/Queensbury) was a straight set winner in the fourth flight walking off triumphant with a 6-2, 6-3 victory. That fourth singles match got tight in the second set as the Hawks opponent made it close getting to 3-4 but Fraser ran off the next two games closing out her match.  At this point the Red Dragons were in total command up 4-1 with just one more singles match to clinch the dual competition to beat New Paltz for the first time in almost two decades.  Unfortunately for the Red Dragons it did not come to pass.  Oneonta was leading on courts one and five but in each case the Hawk opponents fought back.  The Hawks ultimately won on tier one, two, five and six and sent the Red Dragons back with their first team loss on the year 5-4.

Coach Mitchel of course disappointed but was quoted as saying "This was the closest match we had v New Paltz certainly in my tenure at the college.  The women fought as hard as was asked and the difference was just a point or two here or there.  We take solice in the fact the team can make one or two adjustments and if they meet them down the line we will be ready to perhaps turn it in our favor.  The chemistry and culture on this team is quite special and we will pull together and start another winning streak."

Meanwhile the SUNY Oneonta Women's Tennis Team will take a few days off and begin practicing early next week in preparation for a weekend of conference pool play.  The next match will take place at the Binghamton Tennis Center on Friday, October 5^th beginning at 1 PM v SUNY Fredonia.