NYIT Tennis Advances to Nationals

Pictured: Lena Dimmer and Alessia Rossetti at the ITA East Region championship. The doubles team will advance to the ITA Oracle Cup in Georgia.

On September 25 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., NYIT tennis took home three Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Region titles: women’s singles and doubles and men’s singles.

Top seed Lena Dimmer won the singles title by defeating LIU Post’s Liza Dubrovskaya, 6-2, 6-1. She now advances to the ITA Oracle Cup at Berry College in Rome, Ga., taking place October 11–15.

Earlier in the day, Dimmer teamed up with Alessia Rossetti and topped Goldey-Beacom College’s Anna Hortelano Pey and Fredrika Regner, 6-0, 5-7, 10-6 to win the doubles title and advance to the nationals in Georgia.

“I’m so happy my body survived playing 10 matches in three days,” Dimmer said. “It was really hot on the court and all of us had to make sure we stayed hydrated. It was my and Alessia’s last ITAs, and we wanted to make it count. We were fighting super hard, and our opponents fought back until the end. We really believe we have a chance at nationals and are going to give it all we have.”

Top seed Matej Selecky won the ITA East Region singles title. He will join his teammates in Georgia for the ITA Oracle Cup.

This marks the third straight year an NYIT doubles combo has won the ITA regional title. Karolina Pondusova and Gabriela Siembab won the event last year, while Rossetti and Justyna Krol won in 2015.

In the singles combination, Dimmer topped teammate Ivana Andric in the women’s singles semifinal on Monday afternoon. “Ivana played an amazing tournament. She had some tough matches and unfortunately, we had to play each other in the semifinals. She deserved to be in the final as well,” Dimmer said.

NYIT women have now won the ITA East Region singles title six times in the past seven years. The other winners include Siembab (2016), Rossetti (2015), Celia Respaut (2013), Nelly Ciolkowski (2012) and Sara Burinato (2011).

On the men’s side, Matej Selecky won the ITA singles championship for the second straight year to earn a berth in the ITA Oracle Cup.

Selecky, the top seed in the men’s draw, won in the finals by a score of 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, over Concordia's Eymeric Chevalier.

“None of this would have been possible without the coaching staff,” Selecky said. “And special thanks have to go to [coach] Rich [Bustamante], who was by my side throughout the whole tournament.”

“I am so proud of everyone,” added Dimmer. “Now it’s time to get some rest and prepare well for nationals in Georgia.”