Women's Tennis 9/25/2016 9:00:00 PM

Chemidlin flight runner-up, Jays open fall slate at ITA regional

Results

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- Sophomore Meghan Chemidlin became the first Elizabethtown College women's tennis player to reach a flight final at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships since 2011 and the Blue Jays won all three first round doubles matches in their non-traditional season opener Saturday and Sunday.

Coming off an 18-3 freshman season in which she was named All-Landmark Second Team Singles, Chemidlin was in fine form again this weekend. She cruised to straight set victories in her first round, quarterfinal and semifinal matches at Blue 5 Singles, before dropping the final to Bridgewater College's Whitney Kiser in three sets, 5-7, 6-4, 10-7, Sunday.

Saturday, the Stewartsville, New Jersey, native disposed of Goucher's Leigh Oehrig 6-2, 6-2 and Grove City's Linnea Peters 6-4, 6-3. Chemidlin advanced to the final against Kiser by defeating Virginia Wesleyan's Katie Staman 6-2, 6-4 Sunday morning.

Chemidlin is the first Blue Jay to make a final appearance in any flight since Christine Evangelista won the Blue 5 Singles bracket, ironically, at the 2011 tournament.

Senior Sam Procak, playing at Blue 4 Singles, recovered from an opening round loss Saturday to win a pair of consolation matches Sunday that put her over 50 combined victories for her career. She doubled up Penn State Harrisburg's Alicia Hitz, 8-4, in the consolation quarters before doing the same to Salisbury's Shannon Hickman in the semis.

Procak was scheduled to play Bridgewater's Stephanie Barton in the consolation final, but the match was not contested Sunday.

Elizabethtown also got a singles victory from freshman Brianna Titi in the Blue 6 flight. Titi controlled Shenandoah's Alyssa White en route to a 6-0, 6-2 win Saturday in her first round match. The Blue Jay rookie would fall in the quarterfinals to Franklin & Marshall's Alexandra Collins 6-1, 6-2, also Saturday.

Senior Taylor Helsel and freshman Lenea Riehl, the younger sister of former Blue Jay men's standout Josh Riehl '13, represented E-town in the top singles flight of the tournament (Championship Singles), while senior Madison McCall competed at Blue 1 Singles.

The six Blue Jay entries all tasted victory in opening round doubles matches Saturday.

Helsel and Riehl, playing Championship Doubles, downed Landmark foes Brittney Eady and Roberta Scantlebury of Moravian, 8-5, in the round of 32. They ran into the Johns Hopkins buzzsaw of No. 1 seed Mikey Barthelmass and Ashnaa Rao in the second round, falling 8-0. Rao was ranked No. 11 in the country in the ITA's national singles rankings at the conclusion of the 2015-16 season and the Hopkins duo is scheduled to play in the championship match Monday.

At Blue 1 Doubles, McCall and Procak were teamed together. They swept Salisbury's Sage Cole and Jordan Schaefer, 8-0, before bowing out in the quarterfinals, 8-3, to Lynchburg's Christina Harris and Halle Lavieri.

Finally, in the Blue 2 Doubles bracket, Chemidlin and Titi were 8-0 winners against Hollins University partners Stephanie Johnson and Kaitlyn Woodruff. Moravian's pairing of Caitlin Adams and Aisling Doyle ousted Elizabethtown's tandem, 8-4, in the quarters.

This weekend's tournament marked the first competition for the Blue Jays under former assistant and current interim head coach Michael Lesko. Elizabethtown is scheduled to compete one more time this fall, traveling to Lesko's alma mater, Shepherd (W.Va.) for a non-conference match Oct. 9.

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Players Mentioned

Meghan Chemidlin: 5' 3"; Sophomore

Taylor Helsel: 5' 4"; Senior

Madison McCall: 5' 2"; Senior

Sam Procak: 5' 3"; Junior

Lenea Riehl: 5' 5"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Meghan Chemidlin
: 5' 3"; Sophomore

Taylor Helsel
: 5' 4"; Senior

Madison McCall
: 5' 2"; Senior

Sam Procak
: 5' 3"; Junior

Lenea Riehl
: 5' 5"; Freshman