Fifth Straight Tennis Title Eludes Hounds

Under the direction of head coach Dawn Ketterman Benner, the women’s tennis team has won seven conference titles in the previous nine seasons and has appeared in the championship match of their conference every year since 1994.

But this year its quest for a fifth straight Commonwealth Conference championship ended in disappointment as the Greyhounds fell 5-4 to Elizabethtown College in the 2004 league championship set. Suffering their sole regular-season league defeat at the hands of the Blue Jays, the Greyhounds finished the fall season at 6-1 in the conference and 13-3 overall.

This year the Greyhounds had one individual MAC champion: freshman Brittany Popaca, who won the title at sixth singles as top seed in her flight. Three other Moravian players lost in the league semifinals: senior Becky Deringer at first singles, junior Nicole Gruber at third singles, and freshman Leah Bradshaw at fifth singles. The doubles tandem of Deringer and senior Jillian Iacovelli lost in the championship at first doubles, while Gruber and junior Sara Weller lost in the semifinals at third doubles.

Three members of the Greyhounds made the 2004 Commonwealth All-Conference teams. Deringer made the league’s All-Conference first team and earned the distinction of being named the conference’s Player of the Year. Joining her on the first team was senior Marion Berry, while Gruber made the second team.