Fordham University sophomore Dominique Ligouri competed at the USTA Women??s Open Singles Tournament held at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, NY from December 27th-31st. This is the fourth time Ligouri has competed in the tournament and for the third time, she won a national silver ball, finishing as the national runner-up. Over the years, she has defeated top players from such prestigious schools as UCLA, Tennessee, Penn State, Wyoming and Pennsylvania. For her exploits at the national tournament over the years, Ligouri is now waiting on word of possibly receiving a wild card berth into a women??s professional tournament in 2007. This year, Ligouri received the silver ball after finishing as runner-up to Eleanor Peters, who plays collegiately at Maryland, in the finals. Ligouri entered the tournament as the third seed, and started play on Thursday, December 28th, in the round of 32 with a victory over Sharon Siegel from Hampton Bays, NY, 6-2 and 6-0. On Friday, Ligouri had to fight her way through two matches to get to the semi-finals. In the round of 16, Ligouri matched up with ninth-seeded Sarah Summerfield from McMinnville, Oregon. Ligouri held strong in this match as she eventually won in a super tie-breaker, 7-5, 5-7 (10-6). In the quarterfinals, Ligouri took on unseeded Hannah Berner of Brooklyn. The match again went to a super tie-breaker, with Ligouri prevailing in the end, 6-4, 3-6 (10-5). It was then on to the semi-finals on Saturday, where she met up with Katelyn Beard of McLean, Virginia, who had already knocked of the #1 seed in the tournament. Ligouri held strong throughout the match, eventually clinching a berth in the final with a 6-4, 4-6 (10-8) win in her third straight super tie-breaker match. In the final, Ligouri faced off against Eleanor Peters from Washington, DC, who came into the tournament as the #4 seed. Ligouri saw her run for the title stopped by Peters, falling by a score of 6-2, 6-1.