Wilkes Women's Tennis Sweeps Doubles Titles
EDWARDSVILLE – All four of the Wilkes women's tennis doubles teams won their flights on day two of the MAC Individual Championships at the Ralston Athletic Complex and Kirby Park Courts.
In the No. 1 doubles flight, Jordan Vasarkovy (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) and Dana Saliyev (Jamison, PA/Central Bucks South) doubled up King's 8-4 to advance to the finals where they bested Alvernia 8-3 to capture the No. 1 doubles flight title at the event for the second consecutive year.
Francesca Varela-Seri (Stewartsville, NJ/Phillipsburg) and Dasha Yakhnis (Verona, NJ/Verona) cruised through their No. 2 doubles semifinal match versus FDU-Florham, 8-1, to play for the title against DeSales, winning 8-4.
Dagney Markle (New Oxford, PA/New Oxford) and Erin Volutza (Sinking Spring, PA/Lancaster Catholic) got through Alvernia 8-2 before dispatching DeSales 8-2 to secure the No. 3 doubles championship.
In the last match of the day, Nicole Gaetani (Ridgefield Park, NJ/Ridgefield Park) and Rachel Thomas (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville) doubled up Alvernia 8-4 to win the No. 4 doubles title after defeating FDU-Florham 8-5 in the semifinals.
The day began with the first and quarterfinal rounds for all seven singles flights and ended with all seven Colonels players advancing to the semifinals on Sunday.
Saliyev, playing in the No. 1 singles, eliminated Lycoming in straight sets (6-3, 6-3) before defeating Eastern by identical scores of 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals against Messiah.
Yakhnis cruised through Hood (6-2, 6-0) before outlasting Alvernia (6-0, 0-6, 10-7) to move on to the No. 2 singles semifinals versus Messiah.
No. 1 seeded Varela-Seri had a bye to the quarterfinals of the No. 3 flight before making quick work of Delaware Valley (6-1, 6-0) to matchup with another player from Messiah in the semifinals.
Volutza also had a bye to the quarterfinals as the No. 1 seed in the No. 4 singles flight and blanked Lebanon Valley (6-0, 6-0) to square off against Misericordia in tomorrow's semis.
Thomas was the third Colonel No. 1 seed to secure a bye in their flight and dispatched Messiah (6-4, 6-2) to face off against Alvernia in the No. 5 singles semis on Sunday.
Sarah Malone (Williamsport, PA/Loyalsock) was well rested going into her No. 6 singles quarterfinal match and breezed through FDU-Florham (6-1, 6-0) to set a date with Arcadia in the semis.
Alexa Cieri (Matawan, NJ/St. John Vianney) won her first round match over Stevenson (6-2, 6-2) before dominating DeSales (6-2, 6-0) to setup a showdown with Lebanon Valley for a trip to the finals of No. 7 singles.
Singles play will conclude indoors on Sunday with play starting at 10:15 a.m. at the Wyoming Valley Tennis Center.
