Binghamton, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz advanced to the SUNYAC Championship finals for the 20th-straight season after defeating SUNY Cortland in the semifinal round Friday at the Binghamton Tennis Center.
 
The Hawks (12-4-1 overall, 7-0 SUNYAC) rolled to a 5-0 sweep to knock off the Red Dragons from the conference tournament.
 
"It was a very good result," said SUNY New Paltz coach Rob Bruley. "It was a really strong showing against a good Cortland team. They pushed us in some areas, but all in all in the singles lineup performed as expected and now we await the winner of Oneonta and Geneseo." 
 
Trinity Chow and Tatiana Barnett defeated the Red Dragons' Laura Schnitzler and Logan Streety, 8-2 in first doubles, while the duo of Onalee Bacheller and Alexandra Dratch at second doubles, and Isabel van der Veen and Loretta Donovan at third doubles each earned 8-0 wins in their respective matchups.
 
The match was decided at fifth and sixth singles to solidify the win for the Hawks. Donovan swept Karlie Cubino at fifth singles, 6-0, 6-0, while Alex Chimenti swept Presto Fuerbacher, 6-0, 6-0 at sixth singles to clinch their team a spot in the finals Saturday.  "Doubles were fantastic. We really played well in doubles. It was a great way to start off the match, very strong, very dominating," Bruley said. "Going into the singles as well, good domination in the singles and I'm very pleased that the match was played to a decision. Five and six were the deciding matches, which were Loretta Donovan and Alex Chimenti — a senior, I was very pleased for her."
 
Barteck was leading 6-2 at first singles, Batcheller had a 6-1 lead at second singles, van der Veen led 6-3 at third singles and Barnett took a 6-0, 2-1 lead at fouth singles before the match ended, 5-0.
 
SUNY New Paltz will face No. 2 seed SUNY Oneonta Saturday for a chance at a SUNYAC title Satruday. The SUNYAC Championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Binghamton Tennis Center.

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