Heath Earns NEAC Women's Tennis Player Of The Year
CLARKS SUMMIT, Pa. – Senior Taryn Heath (Truxton, N.Y.) won both matches in the No. 1 singles competition at the North Eastern Athletic Conference West Division Individual Tennis Tournament on Sunday, becoming the first player in program history to win NEAC Women's Tennis Player of the Year honors.
In addition to Heath's performance at the No. 1 singles flight, junior Brooke Benedetto (Williamstown, N.Y.) and freshman Kamarie Maturine (Brooklyn, N.Y.) picked up individual NEAC Championship titles at No. 2 singles and No. 3 singles, respectively. Heath and Benedetto also earned a No. 1 doubles title for Wells on Saturday, rounding out the team's four individual championships on the weekend.
Heath becomes only the fifth student-athlete in Wells College history to earn the league's Player of the Year award, following two-time winner Ashley Roser '14 for women's basketball, Matthew Sleezer '14 in men's swimming, Emily Middlebrook '14 in women's cross country and Jeffrey Dick in men's swimming.
Freshman Kate Wells (Gardner, Mass.) narrowly earned her team's fifth individual championship but fell to Erin Ginther from Penn St.-Berks in the championship match. With a second place finish, however, Wells earned Second Team All-Conference honors. Freshman Danielle Bautista (Moorpark, N.Y.), sophomore Nicole Sanborn (Onondaga, N.Y.) and the tandem of Maturine and Wells at No. 3 doubles earned Third Team All-Conference after winning their consolation matches.
Entering play as the second seed in the No. 1 singles individual tournament, Heath defeated third seeded Nandita Munindra 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the championship. Heath quickly dispatched Melissa Stabley from Penn College 6-4, 6-4 to claim first place overall. At No. 1 doubles the day prior, Heath partnered with Benedetto to defeat the four seed 8-4 before sweeping the championship match 8-0 to earn the league's top honors.
Benedetto edged her counterpart 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round before shutting down Amanda Shulski by the same margin to earn Wells' second-ever individual championship at No. 2 singles. Maturine battled Liz Kurtz from Penn St.-Berks to a three-set victory (6-3, 1-6, 10-5) in the opening match before powering her way to the No. 3 singles individual championship, 7-5, 6-0, defeating Keuka's Savannah Fuller.
At No. 4 singles, Bautista lost to the eventual champion, Marje Robinson from Penn St.-Berks, by a 6-2, 6-1 margin before defeating Allison Williams from Keuka 9-8 (9-6) to earn Third Team All-Conference. Sanborn was defeated 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5 singles, but rallied for an 8-5 win in the consolation match to secure Third Team All-Conference.
Wells earned a hard-fought win at No. 6 singles, defeating Janie Saile in three sets (6-3, 5-7, 10-6) before falling to Ginther (6-1, 6-1) in the championship match. She earned Second Team All-Conference for her efforts.
Maturine and Wells partnered at No. 3 doubles to post a 9-8 (10-3) win in the consolation match, earning Third Team All-Conference after falling to the eventual champions from Penn St.-Berks.
