By Joyce Novacek

Contributing Writer

The men’s and women’s tennis teams opened their seasons with impressive appearances at their respective tournaments last weekend. The men earned two singles titles in the Northeast Intercollegiate in Providence, R.I., while the women claimed two titles in the Bucknell Invitational.

For the men’s team, Scott Bernstein ’14 and Kelly Morque ’13 each won their singles draws and finished the weekend undefeated in singles play.

Bernstein defeated Marist’s Jacob Solley in straight sets to earn his first career title in his debut tournament.

After losing the first set in the Indigo Draw 6-3, Morque came from behind to win the second set and clinched his first tournament title by defeating Norman Gelman from Bryant in a 10-6  tiebreak.

“The team’s mentality going into the weekend was to compete hard and have fun,” Morque said. “Obviously it feels great to win the title, but I know at the same time that it’s just the beginning of the season and there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Elena Vidrascu ’14 won the Flight C Singles Draw for the women’s team in her tournament debut. Dumitrita Iepuras ’12 and Courtney Casey ’11 also won their singles back draws. Dara Dwojewski ’11 and Lauren Rottkamp ’11 won a doubles title by default.

Vidrascu finished the weekend undefeated in singles play, going 4-0 in the tournament. She defeated Maddie Bittner of Duquesne two sets in a row to earn her title.

In the Flight A Singles Back Draw, Iepuras ultimately overcame Lauren Clifton of Hofstra in a super tiebreak, defeating Clifton 11-9.

Casey defeated teammate Jennie Ciotti ’13 in straight sets to win the Flight C Singles back draw.

“It was very exciting winning my first title, especially because I wasn’t that confident with my match play coming into the tournament,” Vidrascu said. “I felt as if my level progressed with each match that I played, and towards the end I had a pretty good rhythm, especially with my serve.”

She also partially attributed her win to the support of her teammates.

“I was tight playing my first match in doubles and singles, but soon after I loosened up. I think it was the atmosphere of the tournament … just being with my teammates helped with keeping things fun and relaxed, not stressful or anything,” she said.

This weekend, the men’s team heads to Connecticut for the UConn Invitational and the women’s team travels to West Point to compete in the Eastern Championships, hosted by Army.