BLOOMSBURG – East Stroudsburg University won four of the six singles matches and freshman Rabecca Lausch earned the decisive point with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 6 as the Warriors beat West Chester, 5-4, and forced a three-way tie for the second and third playoff spots in the PSAC East women's tennis standings on Tuesday afternoon at Bloomsburg.

The result, along with Bloomsburg's 7-2 win at Kutztown, gives ESU, West Chester and Kutztown identical 3-2 records in conference action. ESU's men posted their first conference win of the season with an 8-1 victory over the Golden Rams.

All three schools were 1-1 against each other, 0-1 against Bloomsburg and 1-0 vs. both Millersville and Cheyney, and 0-1 against Mercyhurst, their only common non-conference opponent. With the first three criteria in the PSAC tennis handbook unable to break the tie, the fourth criteria comes into play – the decision of the Seeding Committee chaired and convened by the conference commissioner and two coaches of teams not involved (in the tie).

ESU made the PSAC playoffs last season for the first time since the conference went to the current postseason format in 2004. Details on this year's PSAC East women's tennis playoffs will be announced as soon as they are available.

West Chester took a 2-1 lead after the doubles matches, winning 8-2 at No. 1 and 8-3 at No. 2. Freshmen Alex Santoro and Amy McGrath notched an 8-4 win for the Warriors at No. 3. ESU's top pairing of juniors Katie D'Ambrosia and Jamie Ferrigno lost for just the third time in dual action this season, falling to 15-3 (17-5 overall).

ESU won the first three singles flights – sophomore Amanda Kaufman at No. 1 (6-2, 6-1), D'Ambrosia at No. 2 (6-1, 6-1) and Ferrigno at No. 3 (6-2, 6-3) – while West Chester recorded wins at No. 4 and No. 5.

The sixth singles match was the final one off the court and Lausch converted with her 6-4, 6-4 win over Teresa Grasso. She ran her season record to 7-1 while making just her second conference start of the spring.

On the men's side, the Warriors swept all three doubles matches and picked up wins from junior Will Norris, graduate student James Norris and junior Jared Rosenberg at the first three spots in singles.

Norris and Norris leveled their season record in doubles at 9-9, including a 3-2 mark at No. 1 against PSAC opponents, with an 8-3 win over Matt Thomas and David Goldenberg.

Rosenberg and sophomore Seth Heller won 8-5 at No. 2 and junior Zach Ontell and sophomore Dalton Barton had an 8-0 win at No. 3.

In singles, Will Norris took a 6-2, 6-4 win over John Howanski at No. 1, James Norris blanked Thomas 6-0, 6-0 and Rosenberg had a 6-3, 6-0 win against Goldenberg.

Ontell also won in straight sets at No. 5 and Barton came back for the victory in his third-set tiebreaker at No. 6. Sophomore Mark Covert suffered the Warriors only loss of the day, a 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 1-0 (11-9) setback to Alan Day at fourth singles.

ESU's men are back in action on Friday with a non-conference match-up at home against Caldwell. Both teams will travel back to Bloomsburg on Saturday to take on a pair of non-conference opponents.


WOMEN - ESU 5, West Chester 4
Apr 13, 2010 at Bloomsburg, Pa.

Singles competition
1. Amanda Kaufman (ESU-W) def. Brittany Counts (WCU-W) 6-2, 6-1
2. Katie D'Ambrosia (ESU-W) def. Luisiana Souto (WCU-W) 6-1, 6-1
3. Jamie Ferrigno (ESU-W) def. Alison Fetter (WCU-W) 6-2, 6-3
4. Claire Afrassiabian (WCU-W) def. Alexandra Santoro (ESU-W) 6-0, 6-1
5. Kara Shumock (WCU-W) def. Amy McGrath (ESU-W) 6-2, 6-1
6. Rabecca Lausch (ESU-W) def. Teresa Grasso (WCU-W) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. Alison Fetter/Brittany Counts (WCU-W) def. Katie D'Ambrosia/Jamie Ferrigno (ESU-W) 8-2
2. Luisiana Souto/Kara Shumock (WCU-W) def. Amanda Kaufman/Marissa Tanner (ESU-W) 8-3
3. Alexandra Santoro/Amy McGrath (ESU-W) def. Teresa Grasso/Allie Melhem (WCU-W) 8-4

Match Notes
West Chester 12-6, 3-2 PSAC E
ESU 12-7, 3-2 PSAC E


MEN - ESU 8, West Chester 1
Apr 13, 2010 at Bloomsburg, Pa.

Singles competition
1. Will Norris (ESU-M) def. John Howanski (WCU-M) 6-2, 6-4
2. James Norris (ESU-M) def. Matt Thomas (WCU-M) 6-0, 6-0
3. Jared Rosenberg (ESU-M) def. David Goldenberg (WCU-M) 6-3, 6-0
4. Alan Day (WCU-M) def. Mark Covert (ESU-M) 7-6 (6-2), 4-6, 1-0 (11-9)
5. Zach Ontell (ESU-M) def. Michael Sim (WCU-M) 6-2, 6-2
6. Dalton Barton (ESU-M) def. Michael Jendzurski (WCU-M) 2-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-7)

Doubles competition
1. James Norris/Will Norris (ESU-M) def. Matt Thomas/David Goldenberg (WCU-M) 8-3
2. Jared Rosenberg/Seth Heller (ESU-M) def. John Howanski/Alan Day (WCU-M) 8-5
3. Zach Ontell/Dalton Barton (ESU-M) def. Michael Ensor/Michael Jendzurski (WCU-M) 8-0

Match Notes
West Chester 6-9, 0-5 PSAC E
ESU 4-11, 1-4 PSAC E