Tennis To Complete Eastern’s, Brossard Playing For Championship

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The women's tennis team enters the final round of the Eastern Championship at Army on Sunday, and freshman Marissa Brossard will be playing for the championship of her singles bracket.

With 20 competing schools, players were broken into four singles brackets and two doubles brackets. Brossard was placed in the "B Singles" bracket, and after receiving a first-round bye she was able to defeat Seton Hall's Rocio Portela-Berrios, 8-5, in the Round of 16.

The Florida native then proceeded to the Quarterfinals of the bracket where she downed Emily Stein of Army in straight sets, 6-2; 7-5. That set up a Semifinal matchup with the No. 1 seed in the bracket, Massachusetts's Julia Comas, and Brossard advanced to Sunday's final with another straight-set victory, 6-2; 6-4. Brossard will play another UMass opponent for the "B Singles" crown when she faces Jessica Podlofsky Sunday morning.

Due to rain in the area and limited indoor courts, when time permitted to play a traditional three-set match on the outdoor courts, that was the format which was used. However, when play was forced to move inside, pro-set scoring was used (one set, first to win eight games by two – like a typical doubles match would be scored), hence the difference in the singles scoring for Brossard and others throughout the championship.

Brossard is the only Bonnie still playing; however, nearly all players in the Brown and White picked up at least one win at the championship.

Playing out of the "C Singles" bracket, senior Manuela Marin-Salcedo defeated Marist's Marielle Campbell in straight sets, 6-4; 7-5, before dropping a Round of 16 match to Stony Brook's Polina Movchan, 8-2. Once in the consolation bracket, Marin-Salcedo lost to Providence's Taylor Corder, 8-4.

Junior Amanda Pallikunnel earned a first-round victory in the "D Singles" bracket after a hard-fought 6-2; 7-5 (10-4) battle with Connecticut's Natalie Robson. After losing to Rhode Island's Kathleen Uy in the Round of 16, 8-6, Pallikunnel was forced to withdraw due to injury while playing Army's Holly Pappafotis in the consolation bracket.

After an opening-round loss to Lehigh's Abby Drucker, 6-4; 6-2, sophomore Andrea Pavlovic bounced back in the consolation bracket to pick up an 8-5 win over Hofstra's Paige Polizois.

Playing out of the "A Singles" bracket, freshman Fatya Amiri dropped her opening match in straight sets against Fairleigh Dickinson's Julia Prantl, 6-1; 6-4. Prantl advanced all the way to the Semifinal of her bracket.

In doubles action, juniors Kathryn Kvas and Riley Archer were partnered together in the "A Doubles" bracket, and earned a first-round win over Molly Brooks and Jillian Sloan of Lehigh, 8-3. The duo saw its championship run come to an end in the consolation bracket with an 8-1 setback to Hofstra's team of Malissa Galanchi and Sonia Tsay.