October 30, 2007
Ashleigh Roach (Longwood High School/Coram, NY) is the first Penn State Harrisburg student-athlete to win a North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) championship. Roach, a freshman Education major, entered the third flight singles tournament as the number three seed and went on to defeat the two top rated players to capture the conference title. In her first match, she defeated second seeded Holly Woodcock from Penn State Berks, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Then in her championship matchup with Wells College's number one seeded Ali Nolan, Ashleigh came out strong with a 6-2 first set win. Nolan evened the match with a 7-5 victory in the second with Ashleigh rallying to win a nail-biter in the third - a 7-6 (8) tiebreaker. The championship match was a marathon, lasting three hours and 15 minutes with several points lasting twenty to thirty hits.