BOSTON, Mass.--Plymouth State University (5-0, 2-0 Little East) used a 3-0 sweep of doubles play to cruise to a 9-0 victory over UMass Boston (1-4, 0-2 Little East) Saturday afternoon at the B.C. High Tennis Courts.
The Panthers have now five in a row to start the season, including four matches by 9-0 scores, after missing out on the Little East Conference Tournament a year ago because of a season-ending loss to the Beacons.
Sophomore Vicky Woytowicz (Springfield, Mass.) was the biggest bright spot for the Beacons, as the sophomore was within a few points of victory at number three doubles, and nearly pushed her sixth singles match to a third set.
Plymouth State opened the match with an 8-0 victory at second doubles, as Nitsa Ioannides and Nikki Lund defeated Kelsey Shea (West Bridgewater, Mass.) and Logan Smith (Southwick, Mass.).
The Panthers' sister duo of Sunny Jakubas and Zara Jakubas made it 2-0,with an 8-3 win over UMass Boston's top-flight doubles pair of Kristy Garcia (Miami, Fla.) and Martina Daelli (Florence, Italy).
In the closest match of the afternoon, Cassidy Wells and Rosalie DiRado barely held off Kathleen Conroy (Quincy, Mass.) and Woytowicz 9-7 in third doubles action.
S. Jakubas pushed the lead to 4-0 to start singles play, when she downed Smith 6-0, 6-0 at second-flight singles.
Plymouth State clinched the match at fourth singles, as Lund defeated Conroy 6-1, 6-1.
Ioannides kept the momentum going with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Nurcin Celebi (Istanbul, Turkey) at fifth-flight singles.
The Panthers tacked on a seventh point at number three singles, with Wells defeating Shea 6-3, 6-0.
Garcia overcame a slow start at number one singles, but wasn't able to push the match to a third set, as she fell 6-0, 7-6 (8-6) to Z. Jakubas.
Woytowicz, who was making just the second singles appearance of her career, nearly pulled off the upset, but eventually fell 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) at number six singles.
UMass Boston will have a few days off, before traveling to Southern Maine Tuesday at 3:00 p.m.
