New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz women's tennis team officially clinched its third-straight No. 1 seed in the SUNYAC Tournament after defeating visiting Oneonta Sunday, 8-1.
 
The match ended in dramatic fashion with Hawks junior Laura Koob battling back in a third-set tiebreaker against the Red Dragons Olivia Fraser at first singles. Koob rolled in the first set, 6-0, but Fraser tied the match with a tight, 6-5 victory in the second. Koob battled back after getting down 10-8 to finish with the third-set victory, 13-11.
 
"Olivia is a great player. I've been playing against her for years and she's really tenacious. She doesn't give up and I just realized I need to put my whole heart into it also," Koob said. I had [coach] Rob [Bruley] give me a pep-talk and I had my teammates cheering me on too, so that helped a lot. I just remembered that that matchup was like a marathon and I just wanted to complete it. I just wanted to win. She's a great player and fought hard, but fortunately we came out on top."
 

Koob rallied to win in a tiebreaker against Oneonta the first time the two teams met, defeating Mya Lipscomb in second singles, 5-7, 6-1, 10-4. Koob stepped up to play ones Sunday with SUNY New Paltz coach Rob Bruley moving his lineup up with an injury to top singles player Trinity Chow. Chow played at first doubles with Koob, but sat singles play to rest up for the SUNYAC Tournament next week. In turn, senior Jenna Grandville played at second singles, sophomore Onalee Batchleller at third singles, freshman Tatiana Barnett at fours, junior Alex Chimenti at fives and freshman Loretta Donovan at sixes.

"I'm especially impressed with the freshmen," Koob said. "They really stepped up to the plate and they got some W's underneath their belt. Lettie and Tati and our seniors, Ava and Jen – Jenna came out with a W and Ava got to play doubles, unfortunately our teammate got injured, but Jen came out in the win with doubles and singles, so that was a great way to end her career."

The Hawks swept doubles play to stat the day. Koob and Chow won first doubles, 8-3. Alexandra Dratch and Batcheller won second doubles, 8-4 and Grandville and Donovan rolled to an 8-0 victory at third doubles. 
Grandville claimed the win in singles play against Lipscomb. She won the first set 6-0 before Lipscomb suffered an ankle injury during the second set and could not finish. Batcheller defeated Madeline Carswell in her match, 6-2, 6-1. Barnett secured the victory at fourth singles after winning 6-2, 6-1 as well. Donovan defeated Jayden Carillo, 6-4, 6-3, while the Red Dragons took their only victory at fifth singles as Chimenti fell to Rebecca Macdonald, 3-6, 4-6.

SUNY New Paltz will likely see the Red Dragons again in the SUNYAC Tournament. The two programs are favored to return for a third-straight conference championship matchup. First, SUNY New Paltz must get through the best of the SUNYAC West, which as of Sunday is looking like it will be Oswego State and Fredonia State.

Regardless who they face, the Hawks are ready to defend their title.
 
"We're very prepared," Koob said. "We have practice tomorrow. We're hitting the gym too and we're really pumped up. This was a little preview of how we have to play and how we have to come out on top, so we're ready."

Koob Post-Game Interview


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