Final Release
SYRACUSE, N.Y.- The Syracuse women’s tennis team ended its historical 2005-06 season at the BIG EAST Tournament, April 20-23. The Orange went out the same way it came in, re-writing the history books. From senior Wei-Ming Leong (Ipoh, Malaysia) becoming the 24th player to accumulate 100 career victories at SU at the Deacon Classic back in October, to the Orange tying the school record for most wins in a season in its final match at the BIG EAST Tournament, 2005-06 was a year of magnificent achievement for the Orange.
The 2005-06 season was packed full of historical feats by the Orange. In addition to the single-season win total, Leong and junior Ashley Lipton (Saratoga, Calif.) became the 24th and 25th members of the SU “Century Club”, respectively. Leong finishes her career in 12th place on the schools all-time wins list with 131 wins between singles and doubles competition. Lipton is currently 20th on the SU career wins ledger with 120 victories.
Lipton, the team leader in singles wins this season with 25, posted one of the most remarkable individual seasons in school history. She set a new school record for most consecutive singles victories in a season with 14 and teamed with junior Carolina Huignard (Don Mills, Ontario) to tie a school record of 13 straight doubles wins. Leong and Katie Bramante (Endwell, N.Y.) nearly matched the win-streak record when they opened the dual portion of the season on a 12-match winning streak.
Sophomores Victoria Vaynberg (Princeton, N.J.) and Catherine Zawadzki (Brooklyn, N.Y.) held the number 11 ranking in the Fila ITA East Region Rankings this season and finished with a record of 27-7 as the Orange’s number one doubles pairing
After finishing second in the BIG EAST Tournament in 2004-05, SU saw its hopes of returning to the championship match come to an end in the quarterfinals against #74 Louisville. The Orange lost to the Cardinals, 4-1, despite Victoria Vaynberg winning at number one singles. SU defeated Pittsburgh, 4-0, in the opening round.
Following its loss to #74 Louisville, the Orange lost to West Virginia, 4-2, with Vaynberg and Zawadzki each losing in three sets at flights one and two singles, respectively. One match remained for the Orange at the tournament with Rutgers serving as its counterpart. Playing with just four players, SU won, 4-2, against the Scarlet Knights even though the team had to forfeit three matches.
In the championship match, #2 Notre Dame defeated #37 South Florida, 4-1, while #74 Louisville defeated DePaul for third place. Notre Dame and South Florida supplied all of the All-Tournament team selections with Notre Dame taking six spots and USF claiming three. Notre Dame’s Catrina Thompson was named Most Outstanding Tournament Performer and the Fighting Irish’s coach, Jay Louderbeck, was named Coach of the Year.
Syracuse ends the season with a record of 16-8, 6-2 in the BIG EAST. The 16 wins on the year match the highest single-season win total by an SU squad in program history. Three times the Orange has ended a season with 16 victories.
