Lintner Wins #1 Singles Championship At HVWAC Tennis Tournament

FLUSHING, NY – Senior Jessica Lintner (Queens, NY/Frank Sinatra) captured the first individual tennis championship in St. Joseph's College history with a thrilling, come from behind, tiebreak victory over Sarah Lawrence 8-7 (7-4) at the Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference (HVWAC) Tennis Championships held at the National Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.

St. Joseph's finished in third place in the team competition, one point shy of tournament runner-up honors.

Lintner entered the tournament as the #2 seed in the first singles bracket, compiling a 4-1 record in conference this season.  The HVWAC Player of the Week for the past two weeks dismissed New Rochelle's Christine Locke in the semifinals 8-4 setting up the championship against the #1 seed Carlie Bentley of Sarah Lawrence who was undefeated in conference this season.  When the two squared off earlier this season, Bentley took a commanding 10-1 victory.

In the championship, Lintner fell behind 6-3 and was one game away from losing the title at 7-5.  Determined to preserve her overall seven match winning streak, Lintner attacked Bentley's second serve and hit a high percentage of first serves to equalize the match at 7-7, forcing a tiebreak.  In the tiebreaker, both exchanged points early before Lintner pulled away to earn three championship points.  Lintner converted on her second opportunity completing the upset victory with a 7-4 win in the tiebreak.

Further adding to the feat, Lintner's championship at first singles was the only bracket not captured by Sarah Lawrence en route to a dominating win in the team competition.  The Gryphons had  only lost one individual match in conference play this season.  After starting the season 0-4 in singles, Lintner capped her singles career on a high note with a seven-match winning streak, an individual title, and being named to the 2009 HVWAC All-Conference Team.  Her seven singles wins is the most in a single season by a Lady Bear or Bear in St. Joseph's history.

Following her singles match, the senior paired with freshman Kristin Bauman and played another marathon match against New Rochelle in the semifinals of the first doubles bracket.  The duo went to a tiebreaker and prevailed 7-4 to face Sarah Lawrence in the championship match.  With all other matches in the tournament already completed, focus turned to court 17 as a win would seal a runner-up finish for the Lady Bears.  Unfortunately, a late surge for a comeback attempt would fall short and the duo would fall 8-5 in the championship.

"Jessica's play over the last three weeks has bolstered the level of play for the entire team," commented head coach Walter Sanchez. "Jessica has shown great improvement from her freshman year and having our young team watch what she has accomplished will help further develop and motivate the team in the years to come."

Also contributing to the Lady Bears third place finish was Elizabeth Stein who notched her second career singles victory with an 8-5 win in the semifinals of the sixth singles draw.  Junior Elizabeth Shea (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney)  and freshman Patricia Nealon (Maspeth, NY/St. Francis Prep) fell two points shy of advancing to the championship at second doubles, losing 8-7 (7-5) in a tiebreaker to Sonia Daniel and Jackie Reynolds of New Rochelle.