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Geneva, NY... Top-seeded Karisse Bendijo (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Egg Harbor Township) and Allison Tierney (Berkeley Heights, NJ/Governor Livingston) advanced ITA Northeast Regional Championship as the Lion doubles team are one win away from qualifying for the upcoming national tournament.
The pair started Sunday's competition at William Smith College with a walkover win against Ithaca Colleges' Cristina Nunez and Becky Guzzo, before toppling seventh-seeded Jamie Bow and Lia Weiner from the University of Rochester, 8-2.
Bendijo and Tierney, who are 12-0 this fall, will face eighth-seeded Stephanie Finn and Hillary Drewry from St. Lawrence in the finals on Monday with a spot in ITA Small College Championship held at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, AL on the line.
Also in doubles action, fourth-seeded Paige Aiello (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) and Lauren Balsamo (Wall, NJ/Wall Twp.) fell 8-5 to Finn and Drewry in the quarterfinals, while the fifth-seeded tandem of Emily Petersack (Mercerville, NJ/Notre Dame) and Felice Trinh (Linden, NJ/Linden) fell to second-seeded Frances Tseng and Alex Goodman from Rochester in that same round, 8-4.
Bendijo advanced to the semifinals in singles play with two more wins as the opened the day with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Hamilton College's Deb Barany and then beat Skidmore College's Molly Nolan, 6-3, 6-1. In the semis, she will face Tseng, who is the top seed. That match kicks off play on Monday with a 9 a.m. start time.
Tierney and Balsamo saw their run in the singles bracket come to an end in the round of 16 as Tierney fell 6-0, 6-2 to Drew University's Vivian Peng, while Balsamo dropped her match to Hunter College's Epraski Yushkova, 6-0, 6-1.
In the consolation bracket, a pair of Lions marched into the semifinals winning all three of their matches. Aiello defeated Jane Selegean from Hunter 8-2, followed by an 8-0 win over Kristianne Fernandez from Richard Stockton College, and an 8-5 victory against Nazareth College's Alison Tepas.
Freshman Tara Criscuolo (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) reeled off three straight wins as well as she started with an 8-0 win over Richard Stockton's Brittany Hall and then an 8-4 triumph against Goodman. She then earned a spot in the semis with an 8-2 win over New Paltz's Kayla Ditaulo.
