Benedetto Claims No. 4 Singles Title At NEAC Individual Tournament
COMPLETE INDIVIDUAL TOURNAMENT RESULTS
CLARKS SUMMIT, Pa. – Sophomore Brooke Benedetto (Williamstown, N.Y.) took home the No. 4 singles title at the 2014 North Eastern Athletic Conference Women's Tennis West Division Individual Tournament on Friday at the Birchwood Tennis Club in Clarks Summit, Pa. Benedetto and her teammates attempted to claim the individual championships across all nine levels of play in both singles and doubles.
Benedetto becomes only the seventh player in team history to claim an individual title in singles play. Most recently, Ayumi Takeuchi posted a victory at No. 3 singles during the 2012-13 season. Ana Lucia Riley '11 was the last Express women's tennis player to pick up the individual title at No. 4 singles. With the individual title, Benedetto earned NEAC First Team All-Conference honors for her efforts on Friday.
At No. 4 singles, Benedetto was able to slip past Erin Ginther of Penn St.-Berks by a 6-1, 6-0 margin before defeating Chelsea Craine from Keuka 6-4, 6-1. Benedetto and her No. 2 doubles partner, Miku Kugo (Toyota, Aichi, Japan), were able to earn revenge against Craine and Heidi Van Buskirk in partner play as they earned an 8-4 win before falling in the finals to the duo from Penn St.-Abington. For their efforts, Benedetto and Kugo also hauled in Second Team All-Conference honors for their finish.
Benedetto was the only individual member of the Express to reach the finals in both singles and doubles. Sophomore Kevisha Hunt (Germantown, Md.) posted a 6-0, 6-2 loss in the No. 5 singles semifinal, but rebounded to edge Danielle Delgatto by an 8-5 score in the consolation match. Hunt picked up Third Team All-Conference merits with the consolation round victory.
In a ceremony following the tournament, Penn St.-Abington's Honora Hegarty claimed the league's Rookie of the Year honors while Penn St.-Berks senior Crystal Hitz earned Player of the Year recognition after winning the No. 1 singles bracket. Ken Owen, the Head Coach of Keuka College, won Coach of the Year after upsetting Wells College on Thursday before knocking off Penn St.-Berks in a 5-4 thriller to win the NEAC West Division Championship.
Wells wraps up their 34th season as a varsity program with a 6-8 record alongside a league mark of 5-1. During the regular season, Wells has won 16-of-19 regular season NEAC matches dating back to the 2010-11 women's tennis season and has qualified for the West Division championship match in two of the last three seasons of play.
Final statistics for the women's tennis team can be found by clicking here. A complete listing of All-Conference winners with results can be found here.
