Vassar Today

Sports

Winter Wrap Up

Basketball

Freshman Lawrence Avitabile with the ball in Vassar's game against Curry College
Freshman Lawrence Avitabile with the ball in Vassar's game against Curry College
In freshman Lawrence Avitabile’s (pictured right) first game with Vassar’s men’s basketball team against Curry College, he showed glimpses of a promising future—8 points and 9 rebounds in 28 minutes. The next night, against national power Amherst College, Avitabile sped up the maturation cycle. He scored 16 points on 8-for-9 shooting. By his third game, versus New Paltz, the southpaw from Southington, CT, had become a bona fide star: 22 points, 6 rebounds, 9 of 13 shooting from the field in 37 minutes.

That performance would earn Avitabile Liberty League Rookie of the Week honors, the first of seven times the league would recognize his exceptional talents. By the conclusion of the 2004-05 season, Avitabile would be named Liberty League Co-Forward of the Week, ECAC Upstate Co-Player of the Week, and the league Rookie of the Year, the first such award for any player on the men’s basketball team. He led the Brewers in scoring, rebounding, blocks, steals, and field goal percentage. He ranked among the top seven in all Liberty League statistical categories, including leading the league in blocked shots.

While Avitabile was a shining star this past winter, he wasn’t alone. Teammate Judson Winton was named to the Liberty League Second Team following a season that saw the senior become just the eighth player in Vassar history to score 1,000 points. On the women’s side, junior forward Meredith McGair earned Honorable Mention All-League honors for her solid season.

Fencing

Freshman fencer Michael Kantor, who competes in the men’s foil, finished 10th in the nation at the NCAA Fencing Championships in March, earning him All-American honors, the first such athlete in Vassar College fencing history. In the competition, held at Rice University, Kantor had 12 victories and 11 defeats, scoring 84 points and allowing 81. He finished his freshman season with a 32-10 record.

Squash

Eight of nine athletes on the women’s squash team dominated at the annual Seven Sisters competition and earned All-Seven Sisters distinction. Sara Wood ’05, Emily Morris ’05, Camilla Lancaster ’05, Katie Siegel ’06, Denitsa Petkova ’05, Amalia Sax-Bolder ’08, Taylor Levy ’05, and Emilie Moeckel ’05.

Swimming

In the pool, the women’s team finished the season with a flourish, especially senior Ashley Colgate who broke school records in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, freshman Katie Hickman in the 200-yard butterfly, senior Megan DeLong in the 400 IM, and Blaire Fromm ’07 in the 100-yard backstroke.

l to r: Hickman, Colgate, and DeLong
l to r: Hickman, Colgate, and DeLong

l to r: Hickman, Colgate, and DeLong

The men’s swimming and diving team had athletes with a number of lifetime best performances, including senior Jim Dodington and junior Matt Shapiro in the 100-yard butterfly, junior Rob Greil in the 200-yard freestyle, junior Will Oldehoff in the 100-yard breaststroke, and sophomore Doug Dalessandro in the 100-yard backstroke.

Robin Deutsch, director of sports information, http://athletics.vassar.edu

Photo credit: Stockton Photo Inc.


Season Stats

Men’s Basketball

Led by freshman Lawrence Avitabile and the senior backcourt of Judson Winton and Seth Taft, the Brewers went 12-12—the most wins since the 1999-2000 season—and won a program–best five games in the league.

Women’s Basketball

VC struggled through a 6-18, 2-12 season, but all five starters return for the 2005 – 06 season.

Fencing

Both teams finished with identical 4-7 records. The teams started strongly, posting their best record at the season-opening Big One Tournament. The women’s team defeated Wellesley for the first time in four years.

Swimming & Diving

The women’s team kept getting better each meet, finishing 5-3 overall and placing fifth at the 2005 New York State Women’s Collegiate Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships—eight places better than the previous year and the highest finish in Vassar history. At the meet, VC broke 10 school records—six individual and four relay. Nine swimmers earned NYSWCAA All-Academic Team distinction. The men’s team, small in numbers but mighty in performance, had two All-Academic Team performers and broke more than a dozen season- and lifetime-best marks during the year.

Squash

The Brewers won the 2005 Seven Sisters Championship for the third straight season with a perfect 4-0 match record. Playing against some of the best teams in the nation, they finished the season with an impressive 10-5 record. The men found their rhythm late in the season, winning two of their last four matches against Fordham and Columbia to finish 2-10.

Men’s Volleyball

Playing in the highly competitive Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, the Brewers held their own and have a promising future with such underclassmen as Kyle Giunta ’08, Tom Pawlowski ’08, and Wayne Coito ’07 returning for next season.


New Athletics Director Named

After a national search, the Office of Athletics announced that Sharon Beverly, associate director of athletics and interim director of athletics, has accepted the college’s offer to be the new director of athletics. Look for an interview with Beverly in an upcoming issue of the magazine.