ONEONTA, NY – The Alfred University women's tennis team continued its Empire 8 play with a dominant, 8-1 win on the road at Hartwick College Wednesday evening.
 
The Saxons (1-5, 1-1 Empire 8) ended a five-match losing streak as they swept singles action on Wednesday. They got out to an early, 2-1 lead in doubles as they won at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles with a close No. 3 doubles loss.
 
Amber Smith (Prattsburgh, NY/Prattsburgh Central) and Tori Pellegrino (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) took an 8-4 victory at No. 1 whereas Lauren Boshart (Oswego, NY/Oswego) and Kailey Reyes (Dallas, TX/Trinity) took an 8-0 shutout win at No. 2.
 
Madison Palmer (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) and Isabelle Benoit (Bow, NH/Tilton School) loss 7-8 (3-7) in the tiebreaker.
 
In singles, the top four spots in the lineups won their matches in two sets with only two of the eight sets giving up four points to Hartwick players. Pellegrino won at No. 1, 6-3, 6-4 and Reyes scored the match-clinching win at No. 4 singles, 6-1, 6-4.
 
Smith had the most convincing win on the evening in singles action with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 3. Boshart closed out the dominant wins in singles with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 2.
 
Palmer forced a third set tiebreaker as she won, 6-2, 1-6, 10-8.  Benoit also went three sets with a score of 7-5, 4-6, 10-7. In Benoit's first set, she was down, 4-5 and came from behind to take the set, 7-5.
 
"Fantastic match today from the entire team," Head Coach Jordan Crouch said. "We played well from top to bottom and executed when we needed to in order to get our first win of the year. Special shout-out to Madison [Palmer], Kailey [Reyes] and Izzy [Benoit] for their first career singles wins!"
 
The Saxons will next host Utica College on Saturday, September 21 at 1 p.m. for their Saxon-for-Saxon match.