Sept. 12, 2009

Jersey City, N.J. - The Fordham University women's tennis squad opened its fall season on Friday at the NJIT Tennis Invitational. The tournament, which was originally scheduled to be held at NJIT, was moved to the indoor courts at Saint Peter's College due to rain.

The doubles competition was played on Friday with the team of Sarah Tremaine and Martina Featherston along with the duo of Bethany Boyle and Taylor Holt competing in Flight A while the teams of Elizabeth Stall and Jane Carroll and Jennifer Mullen and Brittany Russell participated in the B Flight with Mullen and Russell winning a first round match and Stall and Carroll advancing to the consolation championship.

In Flight B, Mullen and Russell opened play by staging a come-from-behind win over Marists Kayla O'Donovan and Laura Vilas, 7-6 (3).  They then fell to Daniela Celi and Taylor Barber from Queens College, 6-1, in the semifinals.

Stall and Carroll opened play by falling to Maria Mendes and Maria Perevezentseva of Queens College, 6-0. In the consolation semifinals, Stall and Carroll defeated the team of Joanna Macaluso (Marist) and Jessica Nowogrodzki (Saint Peter's), 6-1, before the duo lost to Marist's Kayla O'Donovan and Maria Vilas in the consolation championship, 6-4.

Tremaine and Featherston opened play in the A Flight with a 6-4 win over Manhattan's MacTaggert and Puleo (Manhattan) but the pair fell in the quarterfinals, 6-4, to Brooke Sailor and Sonia Tsay of Hofstra.

Boyle and Holt opened the Flight A competition falling 6-2 to Hofstra's Malissa Gilanchi and Lauren Clifton. The pair then upended Joniesa Williams and Kristin Realista from Saint Peter's, 6-4, in the consolation quarter-finals before dropping a 6-4 decision to Marist's McCarthy and Maria Eduarda in the semifinals.

The NJIT Tennis Invitational will conclude on Saturday with the singles competition.