BOSTON -- UMass Boston women's tennis put up an immense fight but couldn't hold on, as the Plymouth State University Panthers defeated the Beacons 8-1 on Senior Day Saturday afternoon at the Boston College High School Courts.
With the loss UMass Boston was eliminated from the Little East Conference Tournament playoff race, as the Beacons fell to 3-9 and 1-6 in LEC play. Plymouth State finished off regular season play with a 7-6 record and 5-3 mark in LEC action. The Panthers will host a Little East Quarterfinal match on Tuesday.
Prior to the match, the Beacons honored Hieu Nguyen (Dorchester, Mass.) and Wendy Steinman (Dudley, Mass.), two four-year players who played their final home contest of their careers. The pair will both finish their careers amongst the top 10 in singles and overall wins in Beacons history.
Despite the 8-1 score, the Beacons took the Panthers deep in every doubles contest and were almost as strong in singles play. Freshman Solveig Castelli (Precojo, France) earned UMass Boston's lone point with a 6-4, 6-2 win at number five singles over Jane Duggan.
In doubles action, Imani Williams (Roxbury, Mass.) and Shihyu Yang (Taipei, Taiwan) fought their way deep into their match at number two doubles, before dropping an 8-5 contest against Nitsa Ioannides and Andra Dion. At number three doubles, Duggan and Chelsea Thibeault outlasted Castelli and Stephony Reeves (Dorchester, Mass.) 8-5. Finally, Sara Burke and Molly Heartfield took down Nguyen and Samantha Counts (Bridgewater, Mass.) 9-7.
The Beacons will finish off their 2012 campaign Sunday when they travel to Worcester to take on Worcester State at Noon. The match will be held at Assumption College.
