Published: April 21, 2007 11:03 pm      

COLLEGE ROUNDUP: Prokopich leads Niagara women's tennis into finals (April 22)

Senior Julianne Prokopich had the clinching victory as the Niagara women’s tennis team edged Siena, 4-3, on Saturday to advance to the finals of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tourney in Flushing Meadows.

The Purple Eagles (13-10) will meet top-seeded Marist College today at 11 a.m. for the title.

“The team is excited, but all agree that the win is short-lived today and that they have the night to prepare for a job,” Niagara coach Paul Calkins said.

Shella Dargout ran her winning streak to 11 games with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Arti Iyer during Friday’s win.

Men’s tennis

Marist 4, Niagara 0

Marist got out in front early and defeated the Niagara men’s tennis team, 4-0, in a MAAC semifinal match at Flushing Meadow on Saturday.

All three doubles matches were tight, but the Purple Eagles (10-9) lost all three, including a 9-8 loss by Justin McConkey and Marc Dickenson in first doubles.

softball

Tompkins-Cortland 8-8, NCCC 2-6

NCCC’s softball team fell twice to Tompkins-Cortland on Saturday, falling to 4-6 on the season. In the opener, Magan Bagley (Mt. St. Mary) had a pair of hits as did Alyssa Nocera. Erin Whitehead (Kenmore East) pitched in a losing cause for the Trailblazers.

In the nithcap, Julianne DeSantis (N-Wheatfield) had a pair of hits and finished with two RBI. Cassie Carlson (Grand Island) had a pair of hits and took the loss.

Tompkins-Cortland improved to 6-2 with the victory while Niagara CCC returns to the diamond today at 2 p.m. in a home date with Corning CC.

Western Michigan 9, Buffalo 4

Dana Carter had two of UB’s four hits, but it wasn’t enough as the Bulls dropped an extra-inning decision to the Broncos at Nan Harvey Stadium.

Carter’s bases-clearing double in the third inning to take the lead, but Western Michigan responded, getting to starter Sharon Barr with three in the fourth and another in the sixth.

The two teams play again today in Amherst.

Baseball

Manhattan 13-3, Niagara 1-1

The visiting Jaspers came to Lewiston with a 12-game winning streak and Niagara couldn’t slow the MAAC leaders, falling in both games of a doubleheader.

Junior Mark Wilson took the loss in the opener while NU’s Brian Clifford had the lone RBI, knocking in Steve Baldinelli in the second inning.

Manhattan’s Ruben Perez reached base safely six times and had three hits. Nick Derba added a two-run homer for Manhattan.

Derba added another big fly in the second game, another two-run shot that proved to be the difference. Ryan Virtue took the loss for the Purple Eagles (12-17 overall, 2-9 MAAC) while Manhattan improved to 22-11 overall and 13-0 in conference play.

Track

Bulls capture UB Open

The UB men’s and women’s teams cruised to easy wins at the UB Open with the men’s team downing an eight-team field and the women defeating a seven-team field.

John Connors (Grand Island) was part of a winning relay team while Sean Becker (Starpoint) won the pole vault.

Rowing

UB wins Harvey Cup

The University at Buffalo’s rowing squad captured its second straight Harvey Cup, defeating Eastern Michigan in a double meet at Syracuse University.