Nicole Mahaffey	Emily Walsh
Julia Frattaroli	Megan Azzalina

Box
Photo Gallery (courtesy of Dan Ceccacci)

SCRANTON, Pa.—The University of Scranton women’s tennis team’s 5-4 victory over Wilkes University at the Royal Courts Sunday afternoon was not for the faint of heart.

Trailing 2-1 after doubles and having dropped the first set in three singles matches, the Royals recorded their first win over the seven-time defending Freedom Conference champion Lady Colonels since 2005 behind clutch performances by senior Nicole Mahaffey (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity), junior Emily Walsh (Scranton, Pa./Scranton Preparatory), and freshman Julia Frattaroli (Newtown, Conn./Newtown).

Walsh found herself trailing 4-1 in the second set after dropping the first, 6-2, yet fought back and won 11 of the final 12 games to defeat her high school teammate, Kendra Croker (Old Forge, Pa./Scranton Preparatory), 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, at the number one singles.  Walsh's win--the 25th of her career--cut the Lady Colonel lead down to 4-3. Frattaroli tied it at 4-4 by outlasting Olivia Hewison (Port Crane, NY/Chenango Valley), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, at the number five singles.

Mahaffey then sealed it by winning the final three games in the third set to erase a 5-4 deficit, defeating Madison Salmon (Endicott, NY/Union Endicott), 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.  She is now 30-13 in her career. 

Wilkes, now 2-1, caught a tough break when senior Anatasia English (Columbia, Md./Wilde Lake) retired after winning the first set and buiilding up a 3-0 lead in the second against Royal senior co-captain Megan Azzalina (Easton, Pa./Notre Dame).

Walsh and Azzalina gave Scranton an early 1-0 lead with an 8-3 win over Croker and Wardius at the number one doubles, but the Lady Colonels came back to tie it at 1-1 on an 8-6 victory by Hewison and Salmon over senior co-captainLisa-Marie Lanciotti (Northport, NY/Northport) and sophomore Emily Machado (Fishkill, NY/Our Lady of Lourdes).  Wilkes then took a 2-1 lead after English and Taylor Hoffman (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland) downed Frattaroli and Mahaffey, 9-7.

The Royals will return to action Tuesday, September 16, against Oneonta St. beginning at 5:00 p.m. at the Royal Courts.  The match is free of charge and open to the public.

The results of today’s match are as follows:

Doubles  
1. Megan Azzalina/Emily Walsh (S) def. Kendra Croker/Mariah Wardius, 8-3
2. Ana English/Taylor Hoffmann (W) def. Julia Frattaroli/Nicole Mahaffey, 9-7
3. Olivia Hewison/Madison Salmon (W) def. Lisa-Marie Lanciotti/Emily Machado, 8-6

Singles
1. Emily Walsh (S) def. Kendra Croker, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1
2. Megan Azzalina (S) def. Ana English, 4-6, 0-3, retired
3. Nicole Mahaffey (S) def. Madison Salmon, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
4. Taylor Hoffmann (W) def. Lisa-Marie Lanciotti, 6-0, 7-6 (7-3)
5. Julia Frattaroli (S) def. Olivia Hewison, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
6. Alanna Denauski (W) def. Emily Machado, 6-3, 6-1

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (6,4,2,1,5,3)

--ROYALS--