Flushing Meadows, NY - Hunter College won the 2003 CUNY Athletic Conference / Hospital For Special Surgery Women’s Tennis Championship today at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens. It was their fourth consecutive trophy and 11th in the last 14 years. The Hawks, who won three singles championships and two doubles titles, held off runnerup John Jay by a 49-35 margin.

“I’m extremely proud of our team," said Hunter head coach Jocelyn Cruz. “We came into this tournament very determined and confident, and I believe that we displayed that these past two day’s. This was a very gratifying win for our program."

Senior #1 seed Marilyn Penaco (Bronx, NY) won the #3 singles flight, 6-0, 6-1 over #3 seeded Adriana Romano (Staten Island, NY) of College of Staten Island. It was Penaco’s third career gold medal in singles as she closed out a terrific four-year career at Hunter. In addition, Penaco and her doubles partner Tabatha Rolando (Brooklyn, NY), won the #2 doubles championship, defeating College of Staten Island’s #3 seeded Albina Tolmach (Ukraine) and Richiemay Ynclino (Phillippines). Penaco also capped her big day by becoming Hunter’s all-time leader in combined victories (76).

“I’m very excited for Marilyn," said Cruz. “She is our captain and wanted to close out her senior year on a high note and she was certainly able to due that by coming away from here with a pair of championships."

Hunter also received first-place medals from sophomore Tamara Russell (Jamaica, NY) and Corina Muresan (Maspeth, NY) at the #4 and #6 singles flights respectively. In addition, #2 seeded Elizabeth Sulski (Baltimore, MD) and her partner Shirley Vargas (Bronx, NY) took home the #3 doubles crown. Russell, the top seed at #4 singles, defeated #2 seeded Jessica Bardarson (Yaphank, NY) of John Jay, 6-1, 6-2 and Muresan, the #2 seed, upset College of Staten Island’s Angie Fedna (Brooklyn, NY), the #1 seed, 6-2, 6-1. Sulski and Vargas defeated #1 seeded Michelle Gandhi (Manhasset Hills, NY) and Nakeisha Daniel (Arima, Trinidad) of John Jay, 6-1, 6-1.

Brooklyn sophomore Stella Rubina (Tashkent, Uzbekistan), the top seed in the tournament, won the #1 singles flight by defeating #3 seeded Paola Agudelo (Bucaramanga, Columbia), 6-0, 7-5. Rubina also teammed with her partner Belinda Cape (Firbank, Australia) to win the #1 doubles championship. The duo knocked off the #1 seeded team of Leisel-Ann Amow (Brooklyn, NY) and Jackie Ventura (Queens, NY) of John Jay.

Ventura did bounce back to win the #2 singles flight, defeating City College of New York sophomore Joanne Szczygiel, 6-2, 6-3. College of Staten Island junior Regina Delos Reyes (Philippines) took home the gold medal at #5 singles, defeating Hunter freshman Shirley Vargas (Bronx, NY), 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4).

COMPLETE TEAM SCORING:
HUNTER (49 POINTS), JOHN JAY (35), STATEN ISLAND (33), BROOKLYN (27), CCNY (19), BARUCH (15), LEHMAN (11), CITY TECH (6).