ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- The Elizabethtown College men's and women's tennis teams open pursuit of Commonwealth Conference championships by hosting semifinal matches this week. The Blue Jay women take on Alvernia University Tuesday while then men square off with Lebanon Valley College Wednesday. Both matches start at 3:30 p.m. on the Alumni Courts.
Both the men's and women's teams are the top seeds in the four-team tournaments, and would host championship matches on Saturday should they advance through the semifinal round. The Blue Jay women won their most-recent conference crown in 2008 while the men are seeking their first championship since 2005.
The Blue Jay women (13-4 overall, 6-0 Commonwealth) secured the top seed in the four-team tournament last fall with a perfect league schedule that featured four shutout victories, including an 8-0 win over Alvernia on Oct. 22.
Elizabethtown's projected starting lineup, which features four first-year players, has combined for a 72-25 record in dual matches this season, led by a 14-2 mark from number-six player
Kristi Noecker. Her 20-3 overall singles record leaves her one win shy of tying the program single-season record of 21 wins set by Heather Lander in 2005-06.
Alena Marani (flight five) is 13-2 in dual matches and 17-4 overall, while
Madison Pipkin (flight four) has compiled a 13-4 dual-match record and a 17-7 overall mark this season. The fourth rookie in the Blue Jay lineup is
Allison Burkhardt, who is 11-6 in dual matches and 13-9 overall, including a perfect 6-0 record in conference play.
At the top of the lineup are seniors
Emily Swarr (flight one) and
Jess Russell (flight two). Swarr is 12-9 overall this season (10-6 in dual matches) and has a career singles record of 46-36, while Russell has gone 13-8 overall (11-5 duals) and is 42-21 in her Elizabethtown career.
The doubles lineup has a stellar 36-9 record in dual-match play and is 44-14 overall this season. Swarr and Russell are 12-8 overall (11-5 dual) at flight one, Burkhardt and Pipkin have gone 19-3 overall (15-2 dual) at flight two and the conference flight three championship team of Marani and Noecker is 13-3 overall and 10-2 in dual matches.
The men (12-4 overall, 6-0 Commonwealth) outscored their opponents 46-8 during their conference schedule, defeating the Flying Dutchmen 8-1 in the teams' regular-season matchup on April 10.
Playing out of the number-one singles position in the lineup,
Manrique Arrea compiled a 14-7 overall record and a 9-4 mark in dual meets. He finished 6-0 in conference play, and was the Middle Atlantic Conference runner-up at flight one singles.
Josh Riehl turned in a solid rookie season at flight two with a 13-8 overall record (12-4 dual, 6-0 conference), while
Brok Walker is the program's all-time leader in career singles wins with 61 and finished with a 13-10 record in his senior season (10-6 dual, 5-1 conference).
At flight four,
Bryan Metz was 9-8 overall and went 8-7 in dual matches, while
Eric Fritzges shared the team lead in wins with a 14-10 record, and had a perfect 6-0 conference mark as part of his 11-5 dual-meet slate.
Brian Osborn secured the number-six slot in the lineup early in the season and went 9-4 overall, including 5-0 in conference play.
Arrea and Walker teamed up late in the season and finished with a 3-3 overall record at flight one, while at flight two Riehl and Fritzges were the team's most-frequent duo with a 10-7 overall record and an 8-5 dual-meet mark. At flight three, Metz teamed with
Michael Anderson for a 3-2 record and a split in two conference matchups.