On Sept. 19-20 at their home invitational, the Bucknell Invite, the women’s tennis team had several triumphs. Maria Cioffi ’16 and Michele Urbinati ’17 secured the doubles championship for Flight A. Madeline Melch ’18 made it to the Flight B singles final before falling to her Villanova opponent. The Orange and Blue took nine victories after day one.

“Cioffi and Urbinati executed aggressive poaches to dominate the net, something we’ve worked on quite a bit,” head coach Rebecca Helt said. “Our singles play is still not where we need it to be. We need to continue to focus on our decision-making and execution in singles.”

Cioffi and Urbinati won their first round match in A Doubles, alongside Lisa Jouravleva ’18 and Stephanie Pino ’16. The team of Cioffi and Urbinati defeated a duo from Mount St. Mary’s 8-4 to advance to the finals. Melch beat Mount St. Mary’s 6-2, 6-0 before beating Villanova 6-2, 6-4 to progress to the Flight B finals. She was eventually defeated by a Villanova Wildcat 7-5, 6-2. Cioffi beat her Villanova opponent to advance in A Singles. Unfortunately, she was knocked out with a three-set loss in the semifinals. Cioffi did finish the day on a high note with a comeback (6-3, 6-0) to secure third-place.

Jouravleva took her third career win against her Mount St. Mary’s opponent on day one. Allison Lane ’18 took a victory in Flight C singles, alongside Christie Schneider ’15. Schneider lost her first match but was able to bounce back with two 6-1, 6-2 wins to collect the consolation draw. Emilie Bush ’18 defeated her Villanova opponent 6-3, 7-6 in Flight D. She continued on to beat Mount St. Mary’s 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals, before losing in the final to Villanova 6-1, 7-6.

“The highlight of the tournament for me was playing doubles for the first time this season and reaching the finals of my flight,” Jouravleva said. “After competing this weekend, I realized that how you work in practice reflects how you perform in a tournament. Knowing this, I look forward to working my hardest every practice in order to reach my goals in the future.”

Lane and Melissa Parks ’17 won their first round in B doubles against Mount St. Mary’s before defeating Villanova 8-6. They were defeated 8-4 by another Villanova pair.

The Bison will return home to host the Bucknell Tournament on Sept. 26-28.