As the Fredonia State women's tennis team prepares to start its season, finally, it does so with five returning starters.
Head coach Joe Calarco, now in his 13th season, has had to deal with two early season postponements while prepping his team for its season, which is now scheduled to begin Wednesday at Penn State Behrend.
The Blue Devils are scheduled to open the home portion of their season Saturday afternoon vs. Brockport.
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Photo Courtesy of Fredonia State
Fredonia State’s Alison Phillips returns as the No. 1 singles player at the start of the 2012 women’s college tennis season.
"We're anxious to get going,"Calarco said before his team headed out to practice Tuesday on the Steele Hall courts.
In preparation for the season, the Blue Devils held a intrasquad round-robin tournament. Calarco used the results to help seed his team for singles competition, and came up with an order which affirmed what he learned last year. As a result, junior Alison Phillips is back as the No. 1 seed.
"Ali's strengths," Calarco said, "is her all-around tennis knowledge, plus she plays with a lot of heart. She has tennis sense but it's more than that. She's a very good role model for the rest of the team."
She will be followed by junior Jess Johnston at No. 2, sophomore Sara DiFulvio at No. 3, junior Molly Zanetti at No. 4, and sophomore Stephanie Thompson at No. 5. The other returning potential starter is Lesley Cerniglia, plus two newcomers - junior Miller Barmasse and freshman Julie Coleman.
"Cerniglia is the only senior among the starters, so it's a young squad," Calarco said. "Yet the nucleus of the team is Ali, Jess, Sara, and Molly. They're the ones who'll carry the team."
Phillips and Zanetti are the co-captains.
Men's Soccer
Geneva blanks
Blue Devils, 1-0
Fredonia State fell to 0-3 with a 1-0 men's soccer loss Tuesday to Geneva at University Stadium.
Geneva's Teddy Krzywiecki broke a scoreless game in the 65th minute with a header off a crossing pass into the box by Garrett Masters. It was the first goal of the season for Krzywiecki, a senior from Bridgeville, Pa.
Sophomore goalkeeper Bryan Butler made two saves to earn the shutout, his second of the year.
Fredonia State sophomore goalkeeper A.J. Grecco was credited with four saves.
The Blue Devils were outshot 15-6.
Forced to press up late in the game, Fredonia State had two good scoring chances but both shots sailed over the cross bar - one by junior defender Jake Persons and the other by senior midfielder Taylor Page.
Fredonia State returns to action Friday when they face Penn State Behrend at 7 p.m. Friday as part of the Blue Devil Clarion Classic.
Women's Soccer
FSU drops Westminister, 1-0
NEW?WILMINGTON, Pa. - Katie Kleine scored seven minutes into the second half Tuesday, helping Fredonia State past Westminister, 1-0.
"I thought our girls worked pretty hard,"?Fredonia State head coach Chris Case said. "I thought defensively we made some mistakes, but I thought our work ethic today was a big factor in coming away with a victory."
Kleine took a through ball from Alicia Jones, worked her way behind the defense and scored on an open net.
The Blue Devils will be back in action Friday, when they take on the University of Rochester.
Men's Hockey
Meredith to appear on Sabres Hockey Hotline
Fredonia State men's hockey coach Jeff Meredith will be guest this morning, on the Sabres' Hockey Hotline with Kevin Sylvester, a daily program on Buffalo radio station WGR 550 that runs from 10 a.m. until noon.
An audio stream of the show will be available on the WGR website at www.wgr550.com.
Meredith, in his 25th season as head coach of the Blue Devils, will talk about his team and NCAA Division III hockey in general.
The show's host, Sylvester, is a 1995 Fredonia State graduate and former voice of Blue Devil soccer, hockey, basketball broadcasts on campus radio station WCVF (88.9 FM).
