By Kayla Brown, Staff Writer
Women’s tennis teams from all over Pennsylvania traveled to King’s College for the last tournament of the summer season, the King’s College Invitational Tournament, on Sept. 9 and Sept. 10.
This year’s team has a variety of students from each grade. It consists of four fresh- men, Nicole Brintzenhoff of Coopersburg, Pa; Hannah Maykut of Bethlehem, Pa; Kallie Honstine of Huntingdon, Pa and Christina Rudderow of Blandon Pa, two seniors, Linsey Sipple and Julia Spear as well as three juniors and four sophomores.
The team is led by head coach Duke Fravel, and assistant coach Aimee Snyder.
During this tournament, the freshmen put on a show worth watching with many impressive wins and tight matches. Rudderow and Maykut made it to the finals in the number four bracket following a walkover in the semis, due to an injury or an opponent not showing up. This freshmen duo defeated Marywood 8-2 and won the No. 4 doubles bracket.
Individually, Rudderow and Maykut were still as strong, in brackets five and seven, respectively, with each making it to the finals.
Rudderow went down 1-0 after the first set. The second set was looking similar until she fought her way back, tying it up. However, despite her best efforts, she was beaten 7-6 in the final set and did not claim the title.
Maykut, other the hand, faced what appeared to be a losing set in the semis. She went down in one set, but the freshmen at Susquehanna have proven that when things are tough, they never go down without a fight.
She came back from behind and tied up the last set, then pulled out the win, sending her to the finals. In the finals, she went down 6-3 and 6-4, taking the title just out of her grasp.
Her fellow freshman, Nicole Brintzenhoff, made it to the finals after a few easy wins in the first round and the semis. After easier matches, she dropped two sets, 6-4 and 6-0, losing in the title match right along with her teammates.
Sipple and Spear made it to the semis individually, but neither made it farther than that.
Sipple teamed up with junior Abigail Ransom in the number one doubles bracket, making it past the first round and into the semis where they fell just short of the finals.
Spear teamed up in a duo with junior Cassey Fox making it to the semis.
However, that match resulted in another loss for the Susquehanna duos.
The season has just begun, but the strong finishes from this tournament will be a great starting point for the women’s tennis team, especially with a bunch of strong performances from first-year players.
The River Hawks will be back in action on Sunday, Sept. 17 where they go on the road to face Lebanon Valley. Game time for the River Hawks is at 1 p.m.