The Fordham women's tennis team started its fall season on Friday, as the Rams began competition at the 7^th Annual Stony Brook Classic in Stony Brook, New York.  After day one, Fordham had three players advance in the B, C, and D draws, while one Fordham doubles team advanced to the semifinals of the A draw.
 
In doubles, juniors Elliesa Ball and Sarah Ali advanced to the semifinals of the A draw behind two wins on Friday.  First, the Fordham duo topped Navy's Gabby Winter and Logan Antill, 8-3, and followed with an 8-2 win over Army's Elle and Della Taylor to advance to Saturday's semifinals.  Ball and Ali will face Rhode Island's Nithila Asokaraj and Kathleen Uy in the semifinals.
 
Destiny Grunin and Anika Novacek also competed for Fordham in the A draw but dropped their first match to Long Island's Sanne Louwers and Katya Yegoreychenko, 8-4.
 
In the B draw, Fordham's Angelika Dabu and Julie Leong fell to Army's Alyson Hayley and Nancy Porter, 8-6, while Bella Genkina joined Stony Brook's Alexa Cohn for a mixed team, falling to Fairleigh Dickinson's Shreya Pasricha and Masha Krachok, 8-1.
 
In singles' action, three Rams won matches to advance in their respective draws, while one Ram had her match suspended due to darkness.  Leong had her opening match of the C draw stopped at one set apiece with Fairleigh Dickinson's Manu Leme.  Leong lost the first set, 4-6, but came back to win the second, 6-3.
 
Also in the C draw, Novacek won her first match over Rhode Island's Jordan Rucks, 6-4, 6-0.  She advances to play the winner of the Gabby Winter (Navy)/Gisela Castany (FDU) match which did not finish on Friday.
 
In the D draw, Genkina won her opening match against Navy's Cassie Fisbeck in a super-tiebreaker, 6-0, 3-6, 10-3.  She will play Army's Alyson Hayley in the next round on Saturday.
 
The B draw saw Dabu advance for Fordham, defeating Marist's Marielle Campbell, 6-3, 6-0.  Dabu will find out her opponent on Saturday morning, as the Della Taylor (Army)/Masha Krachok (FDU) match did not finish on Friday.  Grunin was also in the B draw for Fordham, but lost her opening match, 6-1, 6-2, to Dayana Agasleva of ASA College in Brooklyn.
 
In the A draw, Ali fell to Stony Brook's Jackie Altan Sarnai, 6-2, 6-1, while Ball lost to Galina Chernykh of Rhode Island, 6-1, 6-1.
 
Action at the Stony Brook Classic continues on Saturday morning.