Hunter College claimed the 2009 CUNY Athletic Conference women’s tennis championships today at the USTA's Billie Jean King National Tennis Center by defeating Baruch by a score of 5-4. With the win, Hunter automatically qualifies for the NCAA Division III championships, to be held in the spring.

Hunter’s Evgenya Kim was named the Championship’s Most Valuable Player. This is her third such award in as many years. “Evgenya is such an inspiration,” said Hunter head coach David Eddy. “She has such great character. She is a big help… she always says the right things to the team.”

The championship match was originally begun on Tuesday, where Baruch won two of the three doubles matches and second singles. The remaining five singles matches picked up today.

“We had a saying all week,” Eddy continued, “Four before two.” Hunter needed four wins to earn the championship, whereas two losses would turn the trophy over to Baruch.

First to finish was first singles, where Hunter’s Evgenia Kim quickly dispatched Monika Maiellano 6-0, 6-0.

But Baruch fought back, and won at fourth singles. The match between Baruch’s Shalanda Graham and Hunter’s Stefanie Smith had originally begun on Tuesday, with the each winning a set apiece. Today, the two battled into a tiebreak in the third set, where Graham pulled out the 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 win.

But the Hawks responded. At sixth singles, Ericka Jaramillo rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 win, followed by Bomi Park’s 6-1, 6-2 win at fifth singles.

With the score tied at four games apiece, third singles would decide the match. Hunter’s Veronica Efimenko defeated Mariam Mkrtchyan 6-3, 6-4 to lead the Hawks to the win.

Kim concludes her fourth year of play at Hunter, and has only the NCAA championships to look forward to in the spring. A three-time Championships Most Valuable Player, Kim noted, “This has been such an amazing experience. This was the best team I have been on. I am confident we’ll continue winning after I am gone.”

This is Hunter’s tenth straight CUNY Athletic Conference championship. Hunter has now beaten Baruch in the last five championship matches.

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