ALFRED, NY— The Alfred University women's tennis team (7-6, 5-3 Empire 8) dropped the regular season finale at home, 8-1, to Nazareth College on Sunday afternoon. The Saxons now turn their sights to the Empire 8 Championship tournament to take place on October 13-14 in Hoboken, NJ.
 
The Saxons dropped the opening three doubles matches to fall behind the Golden Flyers 3-0 out of the gate. Seniors Tori Pellegrino (Whitesboro, NY/Whiteboro) and Inda Gillett (South Kortright, NY/Delaware Academy Central) battled to a 4-8 deficit at #1 doubles.
 
Nazareth clinched the match in the first two singles matches, winning at #2 and #3 singles. The Saxons finally answered back at #5 singles when junior Miranda Sakala (Olean, NY/Olean) took the match 6-4, 6-2. Sakala is now 9-1 on the season and 11-1 in her career.
 
"I'm proud of how we played against a very strong opponent in Nazareth," Head Coach Jordan Crouch said. "I'm excited about today and I can't wait to take this team to the conference tournament next week."
 
The Saxons wrapped up the regular season 5-3 in Empire 8 play. They earned a berth to the Empire 8 Championship tournament as the #4 seed. It is the program's first appearance in the tournament since 2014. AU will face the top-seeded Nazareth Golden Flyers again on Friday at a neutral court on the Stevens campus.