ONEONTA, N.Y. – In its final tune-up before the SUNYAC tournament, the Cortland women's tennis team dropped a 6-3 decision to Empire 8 champion Hartwick in a dual-match played at SUNY Oneonta.
 
Cortland (7-4) will be the third seed in this weekend's four-team SUNYAC playoffs and will face second-seeded Oneonta in the semifinals Friday at 4 p.m. in Binghamton. Hartwick (16-2) won the Empire 8 title last fall and will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament in May.
 
Hartwick took a 3-0 lead after doubles play, although two of the matches were tightly contested. Ryann Ashby and Phoebe Olson won 8-6 over Abby Madigan (Endicott/Union-Endicott) and Vyda Van Denburg (Kingston) at second doubles and Lily Vanuga and Maggie Van Valkenburgh earned an 8-5 win at third doubles over Emily Morano (Olyphant, PA/Mid Valley) and Karlie Cubino (Marcy/Whitesboro). Damita Bollers and Jade Killikelly won 8-2 at the first flight.

The Hawks clinched the team victory with wins by Phoebe Olson at first singles and Colleen Marsh at fifth singles. Cortland won the next three singles matches that finished – Madigan with a 6-4, 6-3 win at number two, Van Denburg with a 6-2, 6-4 win at number four, and Emma Madigan (Endicott/Union-Endicott) with a 7-5, 6-1 victory at number six.
 
In the final match, Hartwick's Damita Bollers and Cortland's Logan Streety (Elma/Iroquois) split the first two sets at third singles. Streety won the first set, 6-3, and Bollers claimed the second set, 6-4. With the team outcome already decided, a super tiebreaker to 10 points was played in lieu of a third set and Bollers won, 10-2, to win the match.