Seahawks Women's Tennis, Your 2022 United East Champions!

David M. Higgins II, Publisher/Editor

May 1

HERSHEY, Pa. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland women's tennis team captured the 2022 United East Conference Women's Tennis Championship Tournament title Saturday afternoon following a gritty battle against Penn State Harrisburg, the defending United East women's tennis champions.

Top-seeded St. Mary's College (10-7) rallied from 2-1 down to stake a 5-3 victory over second-seeded Penn State Harrisburg (9-7) in the championship match.

With yesterday's victory, St. Mary's has earned a spot in the United East Conference/North Atlantic Conference Crossover Match on Sunday, May 8, in Latham, N.Y. The Seahawks will face Husson University, which won the NAC women's tennis championship for the fourth consecutive season on October 2, 2021.

The crossover match winner will get the automatic bid into the 2022 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship Tournament.

How It Happened

Doubles

Junior Sydney Anderson (Ellicott City, Md./Wilde Lake) and first-year Giselle Harris (Easton, Md./Easton) gave St. Mary's an early 1-0 lead with an 8-0 shutout at the third spot over Cassandra Ginder and Annalisa Petrascu.
Penn State Harrisburg evened the match at 1-1 as Breanna DeSantis and Sydney Nye battled the tandem of junior captain Hannah Gorel (Jessup, Md./Hammond) and first-year Diana Levit (Rockville, Md./Richard Montgomery) for an 8-5 victory at the first flight.
The Lions then claimed their first lead of the match, 2-1, as Isabella Pizzelanti and Sarah Shaub posted a come-from-behind 8-7 (3) triumph at No. 2 doubles over the duo of senior captain Hallie Hershey (Keedysville, Md./North Hagerstown) and first-year Amber Manspeaker (Westminster, Md./Westminster).

2022 United East Women's Tennis Champions

Singles

Hershey knotted the match once again, 2-2, with a 6-0, 6-3 straight-set win over Pizzelanti at the No. 3 spot.
DeSantis kept Harrisburg in front by one with a 7-6 (6), 6-3 straight-set victory over Gorel at second singles.
Levit then grinded out a three-set triumph at No. 1 singles, rallying from one set down to make it a 3-3 match. She notched a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Nye for the third deadlock of the match.
Anderson dominated Petrascu at No. 5 singles, 6-0, 6-0, to give the Seahawks their first lead since going up 1-0 after the win at No. 3 doubles.
Manspeaker sealed the championship title with a three-set victory of her own at No. 4 singles, picking up her team-leading 11th singles win of the season, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (1) over Shaub.
If it wasn't Manspeaker clinching the win, it would've been Harris who was up 6-2, 2-0 at No. 6 singles over Ginder when the match reached a decision.