Lady Roadrunners Make It to Finals in NJAIAW Tournament
for Ramapo News
Ramapo College’s women’s tennis team competed in the New Jersey Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (NJAIAW) invitational tournament against Drew University on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 29.
Three Roadrunners made it to the final championship round in the NJAIAW tournament, one of which being junior Marine Uyttenhove. Uyttenhove won 8-1 in the A-Flight quarterfinal round and 8-4 in the semifinal round. Unfortunately, she lost in the A-Flight championship match 2-8.
Uyttenhove has won a majority of her singles matches in her 2018-19 college career, 9-2 overall. Her doubles 2018-19 overall total holds a similar dominance: 8-3.
Junior Megha Mehta played in B-Flight and won both the quarterfinal and semifinal matches, sharing the same 8-3 results. In the championship round, however, Mehta fell, 1-8.
With a 5-5 overall in singles during the 2018-19 season, it is clear that Mehta does outstanding work in doubles matches; her overall score for the category last year being 6-2.
The third roadrunner that shined against Drew was freshman Elizabeth Gamba in C-Flight quarterfinals and semifinals. She earned an 8-5 win in the quarterfinals and an 8-2 win in the semifinal round but fell short in the championship match with a score of 3-8.
This season, Gamba leads in doubles, 5-2, with Mehta as her recurring partner. Her singles overall currently rests at 3-4.
B-flight doubles is where Ramapo’s team excelled. The skilled duo of Mehta and Gamba won the flight with an 8-5 win in the championship match, scoring a title.
Junior Franchesca Chicherchia and freshman Marina Kaiafas paired up in doubles and won a blowout 8-0 in the quarterfinals round. However, they suffered a close defeat in semifinals, 7-8 (6-8).
Chicherchia has done exceptionally well in doubles this season so far, scoring four wins and two losses. Her regular partners include Uyttenhove and Kaiafas. Chicherchia’s singles overall, 2-3, lacks due to two retired games.
As noted, Kaiafas does phenomenal work in her NJAIAW tournament debut. This season, Kaiafas has majority wins in both singles and doubles, an overall of 4-2 each. She shines with recurring partners Chicherchia and junior Tamila Akhunova.
Ramapo’s women’s tennis will be traveling to William Paterson University for their next match on Thursday, Oct. 3. The match will take place at 5 p.m., and this will be the Roadrunner’s fourth New Jersey Athletic Conference match of the season.
