Women’s tennis opens season with five consecutive wins
The Colonials opened their season at the Tiger Classic over the weekend, sweeping opponents en route to a 5-0 tournament record. The perfect start to the 2011 fall season was the best the team has posted under head coach Dawn Buth, in her eighth year with the program.
GW opened play Friday by posting 3-2 victories over both Delaware and Atlantic-10 rival Saint Joseph’s. Against Delaware, sophomore Leah Pascarella and junior Lorena Valente fell in doubles play, followed by junior Mimi Hamling’s defeat at the No. 1 singles slot. But GW returned to sweep the rest of singles play, earning an overall 3-2 win. GW faced its first conference rival later that day, picking up its second win of the day with a 3-2 victory over Saint Joseph’s.
Saturday, the Colonials picked up three more victories, defeating Mary Washington, George Mason and host Towson. GW swept all of Saturday’s opponents, including Mary Washington in the first match of the day, posting a 5-0 win. GW continued on to post another 5-0 victory over George Mason, and in the Colonials’ last match of the weekend, they blanked Towson 4-0, rounding out the weekend’s play. The two teams competed strictly in doubles action in the last match, and GW defeated each of the four Towson duos they faced.
The Colonials next head to the George Mason Tournament Oct. 7.
Men’s water polo picks up two in CWPA tournament
The Colonials posted a 2-1 record over the weekend’s CWPA North/South Tournament, defeating Washington & Jefferson and Connecticut College before falling to Brown for the second week in a row.
GW (5-6) opened play against Washington & Jefferson Saturday, eventually posting a 21-11 victory. Freshman Nick Scherma added five goals, accompanied by sophomores Nate Little and Daniel Tyner, who each added four goals in the victory. Sunday, the Colonials first faced Connecticut College, earning a season-high 23 goals en route to a 23-11 victory. Eleven Colonials scored during the match, with Little and Scherma posting a team-high four apiece. Later that day, GW looked to avenge last week’s 8-6 loss to Brown, but again fell to their CWPA opponent, falling 11-8 to the Bears.
GW next hosts three CWPA Southern Division rivals, facing No. 14 Princeton and Johns Hopkins Sept. 24 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively, and No. 16 Bucknell Sept. 25 at noon.
Women’s cross country finishes last in meet
The Colonials finished 11th of 11 at Saturday’s Salty Dog Invitational. The highest finisher for GW was junior Julia Weir, who completed the 6K course in 37th place with a time of 23:45.63. Junior Heather Stevens was the next Colonial to finish, ending in 87th place after finishing in 24:43.97. She was followed by freshman Erica Halvorson, in 25:34.61 (101st), freshman Kathryn Luker in 25:34.93 (102nd) and freshman Paige Peltan (26:00.38, 107th).
GW next heads to the George Mason Invitational Oct. 1.
Number Crunch: 5
The number of victories posted by the women’s tennis team in the Tiger Classic, their best opening to a season in head coach Dawn Buth’s eight years with the program.
