Lady Bears Tennis Takes 4th to Close Out Season At HVWAC Championships

FLUSHING, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's tennis team concluded their 2012 season capturing fourth place at the Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference Championships held at the USTA Billy Jean King National Tennis Center on Saturday afterboon.

Junior Krysta Verdone (Miller Place, NY/Miller Place) provided the only upset of the entire tournament defeating No. 2 seeded Kayla Pincus of Sarah Lawrence College, 8-5, to advance to the championship match at No. 3 singles. Verdone played a gritty match in the final, but couldn't upend Pratt's Rachel Caires who captured her second flight championship with an 8-3 victory.

Sophomore Victoria LoBosco (Glendale, NY/Archbishop Molloy) secured the other victory for the Lady Bears, defeating Vaughn's Estefania Collazos, 8-3, in the quarterfinals of the No. 1 singles tournament before falling in the semifinals, 8-1, to the eventual overall champion, Sophie Frost of Pratt. In ceremonies after the tournament LoBosco was named to the HVWAC All-Conference Team.

Junior Kelly McNamee (Glendale, NY/Mary Louis) played a hard-fought match at No. 2 singles in the quarterfinals, edged out by a break, 8-6, by the College of New Rochelle's Zaire Ansari.

Regular season champions Pratt took home the team tournament title with a dominant performance, producing eight of the nine flight champions en route to their second straight championship. Sarah Lawrence College earned tournament runner up honors, followed by the College of New Rochelle, St. Joseph's and Vaughn College.