All-Americans Dakota Fordham (New York, NY/Laurel Springs) and Carol Plakk (Tallinn, Estonia/Audentese Spordigümnaasium) of New York University's Women's Tennis Team had another successful day at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Cup, which is being held at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, GA, from October 14-16.

Both players won their Round-of-16 singles matches on Thursday, while Fordham fell in the quarterfinals and Plakk advanced to the semis.

Unfortunately, Plakk withdrew from her singles semifinal against Sahana Raman of Middlebury College on Friday due to illness. The withdrawal left her tied for third in the singles draw.

Fordham forged ahead, however, defeating Gabi Moss of Washington & Lee (6-0, 6-2) to finish tied for fifth place in the tournament.

The pair bested their doubles opponents from Southwestern University in the opening round on Thursday, advancing to take on Elle Christiensen and Tilly Rigby of Tufts University. Fordham and Plakk fell behind early and lost the first set 2-6, with the latter battling through the illness that caused her to withdraw from her singles match. Nonetheless, the Violet duo rallied for a 7-5 win in the second set and pulled off an impressive 10-8 tiebreaker victory in the third to secure a spot in the semifinals.

"We had a tough first doubles match today, but the energy shifted and we were able to pull through then carry it to the semifinal," said Fordham. "I very much enjoy having Carol as my partner. We work very well together."

Their opponents in the semis were University Athletic Association (UAA) rivals Ava Givone and Crystal Zhou from Carnegie Mellon University. Fordham and Plakk found their groove in that match, earning a straight-set victory (6-3, 6-4). 

"We didn't play our best tennis in the first match, but were able to pull through," added Plakk. "In the second match, we were more focused on the game and kept up a good energy which led to the win."

Now, New York's All-Americans will face off against another UAA foe tomorrow in Sylwia Mikos and Shianna Guo of the University of Chicago for the ITA Cup doubles title.

"I'm so proud of their efforts today," commented Head Coach Horace Choy. "They were not 100%, but fought hard and found a way to win. They got off to a slow start in the quarters, dropping the first set and were down 0-3 in the second. The women rallied and fought back to win that set. They controlled the match in the tiebreaker as it was not as close as the score indicated. They then were able to carry that momentum into the semis and played solidly to win in straight sets."