| Box Score 3 Flushing, N.Y. – Freshman Isabella Barona (Marta, Ecuador/Talentos de Manta) advanced to the semifinals to lead the Le Moyne College women's tennis team at the ITA East Regional Friday through Sunday at the USTA National Tennis Center. The Dolphins recorded 12 wins and just six losses between singles and doubles competition.

"This weekend for us was a weekend of firsts," said head coach Jeff Lonczak '03. "Neither program has ever made an individual regional semifinal. This weekend it happened three times. First, our freshman Isabella Barona made an improbable run to the semifinals knocking off the #1 seed from Queens in the round of 64. She won six total matches and three straight 10-point breakers while beating the 15th and 8th seeds in the tournament. For a freshman to make that kind of run shows that her experience level is way beyond her years. I'm so looking forward to the rest of her season."

Barona, who was not part of the initial 59-player draw, had to take on Dominican's Ava O'Brien to earn a spot in the field. She cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory to earn the last spot in the draw. In the first round, she upset the tournament's top seed, Maja Makal from Queens College, 7-6 (1), 6-1. She then rallied to down Molloy College's Alyssa Baur in the second round, 1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7). She followed with a 7-5, 5-7, 1-0 (10-4) in the third round over Wilmington University's Jessica Purdy, the 15th seed. She had to win her third straight tiebreaker in the quarterfinals, 10-7, to beat Southern New Hampshire University's Alexxa Etienne, the eighth seed. Her run ended in the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-4 setback to Wilmington's Neus Ramons Moreno.

Sophomore Fiona Pepper (Challapampa, Peru/Colegio Anglo Americano Prescott) recorded a pair of victories. She was a 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-4) winner in the first round over Queens' Gabriella Sciarrotta. She then posted a 6-0, 4-0 (ret.) win in the second round over St. Thomas Aquinas College's Paula Palero. Pepper lost to Ramos Moreno in the third round, 6-0, 6-2.

Senior Birdem Oz (Istanbul, Turkey/TED Ankara College Foundation HS) also tallied two wins. She was a 6-1, 6-2 winner in the first round over Molloy's Hannah Niggemeier. She followed with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over SNHU's Isabella Andrade in the second round. She fell in the third round to Caroline Fawzy of Queens, 7-5, 6-3.

Graduate student Marta Nunez (Rye, N.Y./Antonio Lopez (Spain)) was knocked out in the first round by UDC's Claudia Bahamon Lopez, 7-5, 6-2.

In doubles action, senior Brooke Fernandez (Shirley, N.Y./William Floyd) and junior Francesca Lilliegren (Guayaquil, Ecuador/Colegio Alemán Humboldt Guayaquil) recorded two wins as the sixth seed to reach the quarterfinals. In the first round, they defeated American International College's Sophie Roberge and Brianna Shvetsov, 8-1. They followed with an 8-6 win in the second round over Stonehill College's Emma Markayan and Samantha Ormesher. They fell in the quarterfinals, 8-0, to the third-seeded Franklin Pierce University team of Himari Mor and A. Geslin, who went on to win the championship.
 
Pepper and Nunez made up Le Moyne's other team and recorded an 8-4 win in the first round over STAC's Viktoriia Pavlovets and Samantha Villegas Robles. In the second round, then were edged by the fourth-seeded Queens duo of Makal and N. Ulander, 9-7.
 
The Dolphins return to dual match action on Wednesday at Franklin Pierce at 2:30 p.m.