QUINCY, Mass.--Freshman Meghan Erickson (Hubbardston, Mass.) won her first two collegiate matches, to lead UMass Boston women's tennis to a 6-3 non-conference victory over Eastern Nazarene College in a two-day match.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 6, Eastern Nazarene College 3
(UMass Boston 2-2, Little East 1-0)
(Eastern Nazarene 3-3, Commonwealth Coast 1-2)
HOW IT HAPPENED
For a second consecutive match, UMass Boston earned a win by taking at least the final two singles matches in a tightly contested contest. After building a 3-1 lead, the Beacons saw the host Lions roar back to tie the match at 3-3 late Thursday afternoon.
Senior Nurcin Celebi (Istanbul, Turkey) gave the Beacons a 4-3 lead with a win at third singles on Thursday, but the match had to be called due to darkness, with fourth and sixth singles still undecided.
Juniors Vicky Woytowicz (Springfield, Mass.) and Kelsey Shea (West Bridgewater, Mass.) came back on Friday and dominated their opponents to help the Beacons secure their seventh-straight win over Eastern Nazarene College.
The non-conference tilt started off with the Beacons grabbing a 2-1 edge after doubles, thanks to a tight win at second doubles. The Beacons' third doubles pair of Celebi and Erickson earned a 8-3 win at third doubles, while Kristy Garcia (Miami, Fla.) and Logan Smith (Southwick, Mass.) dropped an 8-3 match in first singles.
At number two doubles, Shea and Woytowicz battled back from a 7-4 deficit to grab an 9-8 (7-5) tiebreak victory.
Erickson pushed the lead out to 3-1 when she opened singles play with a 6-1, 6-0 win at number five singles, but Eastern Nazarene responded right back with wins at first and second singles.
From there, Celebi took a 6-3, 6-3 decision at third singles, while Woytowicz (4-6, 6-2, 6-1) and Shea (6-3, 6-1) tacked on wins at fourth and sixth singles.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Erickson entered Thursday's match with an 0-4 career record, before earning her first collegiate doubles (third) and singles (fifth) victories.
- UMass Boston improved to 10-3 all-time against the Lions with the victory
- With the victory, UMass Boston is riding their first two-match winning streak since October 8-10, 2013
- Woytowicz entered Friday's resumption of play leading 2-0 in the third set, while Shea was leading one set to zero
NEXT UP
UMass Boston will have an extremely quick turnaround, as the Beacons will travel to take on defending Little East Conference Champion Plymouth State University on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
