Sept. 15, 2008

Results

Hempstead, NY - Freshman Kristina Chao (Needham, MA) won the number seven singles flight and senior Nicole Betz (Long Beach, NY) and junior Julianne Kasinow (Wall, NJ) teamed up to win the second doubles flight to lead the Sacred Heart women's tennis team in play at the Hofstra Invitational over the weekend.

Betz and Kasinow won the number two doubles flight with wins over Radford University, 8-4, and Seton Hall in the semis 8-3. The duo then triumphed 8-5 over Fairfield's Kristen Liu and Michaela Cerrone in the finals.

"I thought Nicole and Julianne's performance was outstanding, head coach Mike Guastelle said. "They really dominated in all three matches they played against very good competition."

Playing in just her second collegiate tournament, Chao won the #7 flight singles championship with wins over Seton Hall Savlina Kaplaska (6-3, 6-2) and Fairfield's Caitlin Savoy in the semis 6-1, 6-1. In the finals, she defeated Hofstra's Samantha Safiri 6-4, 6-4.

"Kristina did an excellent job," Gaustelle said. "Considering this was the first singles matches she has played at the college level, I couldn't have asked for anything better."

Also playing well for the Pioneers was freshman Kate Donnelly (Centerville, MA) who went 2-1 at the #4 doubles flight with wins over Manhattan and NJIT.

The Pioneers are off until September 23rd when they visit Monmouth.