March 31, 2005

Baltimore, Md. - Loyola's men's and women's tennis teams split their matches with Hofstra on Thursday afternoon at Loyola College. The Greyhound women won 4-3 and improve their record this season to 4-3, while the men fell 6-1 to drop to 7-4 overall. Both teams travel to Siena and Marist this weekend.

On the women's side, the Greyhounds took the doubles point with a thrilling 9-8 win at the No. 1 spot. Amy Nitch and Jessica Liberatore combined for the win while Meaghan McKenna and Christi Lazar teamed up for an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles. Loyola also won the third doubles match with Claire Najour and Stefanie Clay earning an 8-1 victory.

In singles action, Nitch dropped a very tight No. 1 singles match. After winning the first set 7-6, she fell 6-2 and took the Hofstra No. 1 singles player to a 12th tiebreaker. Lazar, who played at No. 4, Najour, who took No. 5 and Clay, who competed at No. 6, led the Greyhounds to the win with straight set victories.

On the men's side, the doubles' point was highly contested with the Greyhounds winning at No. 2. After dropping the No. 1 doubles match, Scott Gannon and John Curran won at No. 2 and set up a dogfight at No. 3. Dan Schiemel and Ben Epstein took Hofstra to a sixth tiebreaker, but fell 9-8.

Epstein was successful at No. 6 singles, winning 6-3, 6-0 to give Loyola its only point on the day.

The Greyhounds are at Siena this Saturday and continue their MAAC swing with a match at Marist on Sunday.