Results

PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's tennis team started its 2011 Freedom Conference schedule at home on Saturday afternoon, but the Valiants could only pick up a pair of victories in suffering a 7-2 defeat at the hands of Eastern University at the Manhattanville Courts.

The Eagles wasted little time jumping ahead of the Valiants on the blustery Saturday afternoon, dropping just five combined games in three doubles matches to take an early lead. From there, the visitors captured four of the six singles matches to earn the victory.

Bright spots for the Valiants included sophomore Joeliza Valdez (Brooklyn, N.Y./EBC Bushwick) and junior Kim Kunces (Darien, Conn./Darien), both of whom earned straight-set victories in singles play. At fourth singles, Valdez made quick work of Amanda Prescott in a 6-1, 6-1 win, her first since moving up to the fourth flight over Spring Break.   Kunces had an even easier time in her sixth-singles matchup with Elaine Grazulis, ceding just one game in a 6-1, 6-0 victory that moved her to within a match of .500 for the season.

“We had two very well deserved wins today for Kim and Joeliza; they've worked extremely hard and it's starting to show in their match play,” observed head coach David Slater. “I couldn't be happier for the two of them, and hopefully the girls can take confidence from this match into the rest of the conference season. If a couple of the close matches go a different way, it could have been a different result today.”

Manhattanville (1-7, 0-1 Freedom) will make a quick turnaround and return to action tomorrow, as the Valiants head onto the road to take on Mount Saint Mary College starting at 1 p.m.