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Lisa-Marie
Lanciotti |
Nicole
Mahaffey |
Megan
Azzalina |
Emily
Walsh |
Julia
Frattaroli |
Results
Senior Lisa-Marie Lanciotti (Northport, N.Y./Kings Park) had her back against the proverbial wall and her University of Scranton women's tennis teammates biting their fingernails on Wednesday afternoon during their Landmark Conference semifinal match against Juniata.
But Lanciotti stayed cool under pressure, saved a match point while trailing 5-2 in the third set and rallied for a 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2) victory to give the Royals a 5-4 win and put them in the Landmark Conference championship on Saturday.
The second-seeded Royals (12-4) will go for their fourth straight conference title when they visit top-seeded Elizabethtown on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Blue Jays defeated fourth-seeded Catholic, 5-2, in Wednesday's other semifinal.
Lanciotti's victory brought an end to a match that took nearly four-and-a-half hours, and her no. 5 singles match took more than three hours itself.
Scranton faced adversity right from the start, as third-seeded Juniata (12-6) took two of the three doubles matches. The Royals' lone win came at no. 1 doubles as junior Emily Walsh (Scranton, Pa./Scranton Prep) and freshman Julia Frattaroli (Newtown, Conn./Newtown) teamed for an 8-2 win.
The Royals pulled even when senior Nicole Mahaffey (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity) rolled to a 7-5, 6-2 victory at no. 3 singles. The Eagles retook the lead with a win at no. 6 singles, but Scranton seemingly took control when senior Megan Azzalina (Easton, Pa./Notre Dame) posted a 7-6 (7-2, 6-2 win at no. 2, and Walsh was right behind with a 6-1, 6-3 win at no. 1 for a 4-3 lead.
But the Eagles pulled out a three-set win at no. 4 singles, setting the stage for Lanciotti's heroics at no. 5 singles. She fell behind 5-2, fought off the match point to break her opponent to get to 5-3, then surged to a 6-5 lead before Juniata forced a tiebreaker. Lanciotti took control right away, taking a 5-1 lead and closing out the match three points later.
The win was Lanciotti's 26th career singles victory, which ranks 20th in school history. Azzalina now has 45 career singles wins, one shy of matching the school record. Mahaffey earned her 41st career singles win, tied for fourth-most in school history, and Walsh now has 34 career singles wins, tied for 11th in school history, and 30 career doubles wins, 10th most in Royals history.
--ROYALS--
