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Lebanon Valley College Athletics

CC final preview womens tennis

Women's Tennis by Tim Flynn '05

W. Tennis Heads To E-Town With CC Title On The Line

ANNVILLE, Pa. - For the third straight year, Lebanon Valley and Elizabethtown will meet for the Commonwealth Conference women's tennis championship when LVC heads to E-town Saturday for an 11 a.m. start, hoping to make it two titles in a row.

The second-seeded and defending champion Flying Dutchmen (17-2) beat Messiah 5-1 in the semifinals, while top-seeded Elizabethtown (14-4, 6-0 CC) defeated Alvernia 5-0. Saturday will be the rubber match of their three straight finals meetings; E-town won in 2008, LVC in 2009.

The line-ups will be the same as when Elizabethtown squeezed out a 5-4 win during the fall season over LVC to clinch the #1 seed, and the Dutchmen will have to turn around one of those matches if they want to earn their second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

The premier singles match will be at No. 1, where defending CC Player of the Year Sarah Grodzinski will meet conference rival Emily Swarr for the final time. The senior No. 1s will play for the seventh time collegiately, with Grodzinski holding a 4-1 lead in the series with one unfinished match. Grodzinski has won four in a row, including three last year and a 6-2, 6-4 decision in their match during the fall this season.

Another highlight will be at No. 4, as freshman Lauren Fulmer puts her perfect 19-0 dual-match record on the line against Madison Pipkin. Pipkin dealt Fulmer her lone loss of the year at MAC individual tournament, bouncing Fulmer in the semifinals 6-4, 6-1, just four days after Fulmer needed a tiebreak to win 7-5, 4-6, 10-6 during the dual meeting. Fulmer has won six straight matches since then, including six 6-0 sets in that span.

At No. 2, Shayna Heintzelman will match up with Jess Russell after winning a 1-6, 6-0, 10-6 tiebreaker during the fall. Heintzelman, and at No. 3, Tam Lobb will rematch with Allison Burkhardt following the Blue Jay's 6-2, 6-4 win last time.

The lower rungs will be very tough as No. 5 Caitlin Bedford and No. 6 Morgan Brady face the MAC's No. 5 and 6 individual champions in Alena Marani and Kristi Noecker. Marani (18-4) beat Bedford 6-3, 6-0 in the fall, while Noecker blanked Brady 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles are another strenth for E-town, with all three teams holding excellent records. LVC's only doubles point in the fall came at No. 1, where Grodzinski and Heintzelman needed a tiebreak to beat Swarr and Russell 9-8 (7-4). At No. 2, Burkhardt and Pipkin (20-3 as a team) beat Lobb and Fulmer 8-2, and Marani and Noecker (14-3 as a team) won 8-1 over Bedford and Brady.

Commonwealth Conference Semifinal
Lebanon Valley vs. Elizabethtown Projected Line-Ups

Singles
1. Sarah Grodzinski (20-2) vs. Emily Swarr (12-9)
2. Shayna Heintzelman (17-4) vs. Jess Russell (13-8)
3. Tam Lobb (11-7) vs. Allison Burkhardt (13-9)
4. Lauren Fulmer (20-1) vs. Madison Pipkin (17-7)
5. Caitlin Bedford (3-9) vs. Alena Marani (18-4)
6. Morgan Brady (12-6) vs. Kristi Noecker (21-3)
 
Doubles
1. Heintzelman/Grodzinski (14-2) vs. Swarr/Russell (13-8)
2. Lobb/Fulmer (10-5) vs. Burkhardt/Pipkin (20-3)
3. Brady/Jess Ferlenda (3-5) vs. Marani/Noecker (14-3)
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