ALFRED, NY - The Alfred University women's tennis team concluded their fall season with a 5-0 loss to No. 1 Hartwick College during the Empire 8 Tournament Semifinals on Friday afternoon. 

"I'm so proud of this team," Head Coach Jordan Crouch said. "This was such a fun year with a fantastic group. They busted their butts every day to put us in a place where we could compete for an Empire 8 title. Hartwick is a great program and we'll be back next year bigger and badder! I want to give a special thanks to Tori, she has been my biggest supporter and has helped me grow as a coach by leaps and bounds. A big thanks to Ron and his athletic training staff as well for keeping our players on the courts and healthy. Thank you to Devon and Boz for the stories, pictures, and great times with the team. This has been an unbelievable season and I have been honored to be a part of it. Go Saxons!"

In doubles, Abigail Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) and Alexis Giordano (Lewiston, NY/Lewiston-Porter) picked up four points in their efforts from No. 3. Macy Youngberg (Falconer, NY/Falconer Central) and Alina Zabihailo (Kyiv, Ukraine/Educational Complex #143) rounded out doubles efforts from the top spot for AU. In singles, the Saxons led in multiple individual matchups before the Hawks recorded two more points to seal the match. 

The fall season was a historic one for the Saxons, as they finished with a program-high 56 singles wins and tied the program record with 28 doubles victories. Youngberg became the first player to record 13 singles wins in a single season since the 2009-10 season, with Zabihailo also picking up 12 singles victories of her own. The combined efforts of Youngberg and Zabihailo resulted in 10 victories in doubles action, which marks the second-highest total in program history. Additionally, Anna Gwozdz (South Wales, NY/Iroquois) and Eve Liu (Yantai, China/Wilbraham and Monson Academy) were credited with nine doubles wins to insert themselves into the all-time record books.