2009 PSAC Tournament Page

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - The first PSAC championship of the 2009-10 academic year will be contested this weekend as Shippensburg hosts the 2009 PSAC Men's and Women's Individual Tennis Championships.

Individual winners in men's and women's singles and doubles will be crowned after a the two-day tournament runs from Saturday-Sunday, October 10-11.

Players from 12 women's and six men's teams will vie for the individual championships. Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Mercyhurst, Millersville and West Chester sponsor both men’s and women’s tennis. California, Cheyney, Clarion, IUP, Shippensburg and Slippery Rock have only women’s tennis.

Returning to defend her individual title in women's singles is California's Alina Stanila, who is the top seed in the women's singles draw. Last year's single's runner-up, Kutztown's Rohini Das, is the third seed. Stanila's teammate Axelle Fernandez is the No. 2 seed while Slippery Rock's Laura Handy wraps up the seeded players as the No. 4. A total of 30 players will vie for the PSAC women's singles individual championship, with the top two seeds receiving byes into the second round.

There will be a new women's doubles champion duo this year and leading the way is the California team of Nina Kowalski and Laurie Navarro, who are the No. 1 seed. Slippery Rock's Handy and Dunja Drmac are the No. 2 seed. A total of 12 women's doubles teams, one from each squad, will vie for the women's doubles championship, with four teams receiving byes into the second round.

Although on the Bloomsburg roster, defending men's singles champion Fernando Perez will not be defending his championship this year, which opens things up for other contenders, including last year's runner-up, Andy Torrealba of Kutztown, who is unseeded this year. Bloomsburg's Eric Dove is the top seed while two other Kutztown players, Kaushik Das and Jonathan Goulet, are the second and fourth seeds, respectively. Mercyhurst's Kyle King is the No. 3 seed. A total of 16 individuals will vie for the men's singles championship, with all 16 playing first round matches.

Kutztown's Arpit Sharma won the individual doubles championship last year but he will team with a new partner in looking to defend that title this year. Das will be his partner as the No. 1 seeded doubles team. Their biggest challenge looks to be last year's runner-up team of Adam Marnik and Mijo Cotic of Mercyhurst, which is the No. 2 seed. Six doubles teams, one from each men's squad, will vie for the men's doubles championship, with the two seeds getting the first round byes.