BOSTON, Mass.—For the second-consecutive season, #6 UMass Boston women's tennis will take on rival #3 UMass Dartmouth at the UMass Dartmouth Tennis Courts on Tuesday afternoon in the Little East Conference Quarterfinals.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
For a second-consecutive season, UMass Boston women's tennis finished the LEC Regular Season with a program-best 4-4 record. After dropping their LEC opener to fifth-seeded Worcester State University, UMass Boston went on to win four-straight conference matches for the first time in program history. The Beacons enter Tuesday's match on a three-match conference losing streak, after falling to the first, second and third seeded teams.
The defending Little East Conference Tournament Champion Corsairs enter this year's playoffs in an even better spot than they were a year ago. After finishing fourth with a 5-3 record a year ago, this year's team ended the regular season in third place thanks to a 6-2 mark in conference play. UMass Dartmouth enters the postseason riding a five-game winning streak, in which the Corsairs have outscored their opponents by a 37-5 margin.
ALL-TIME SERIES
UMass Dartmouth owns a 15-1 all-time advantage against the Beacons, including 14-straight wins. These two teams met in the postseason in 2013 and 2015, with UMass Dartmouth earning identical 5-2 wins in both matchups.
FIRST MEETING
Ten days ago in Boston, UMass Dartmouth defeated an undermanned Beacons side 8-0. With the Beacons missing junior Kristy Garcia (Miami, Fla.) and senior Vicky Woytowicz (Springfield, Mass.), UMass Dartmouth easily raced out to a 3-0 lead in doubles play. In singles play, all six UMass Boston players were forced to play up a spot, with the team's third-sixth players moving up two spots. Freshman Valeria Tueme (Easton, Mass.) made her collegiate singles debut at number six singles and took the first set of her match, before the match was called due to rain.
SCOUTING THE CORSAIRS
UMass Dartmouth is aiming to become only the second back-to-back LEC Tournament Champion in the current tournament format-when the LEC Tournament begins Tuesday. The Corsairs won their second tournament in seven seasons last fall, when they defeated the #5 Beacons 5-2, #1 Rhode Island College 5-4 and #2 Bridgewater State University 5-4 in a five-day span.
Fourth-year head coach Doug Chapman returned seven of the team's 15 players from last year's LEC Championship team. After suffering through a three-match losing streak midway through the year that saw the team sitting at 4-4, the Corsairs have won five-straight over the past two weeks.
Reigning LEC Rookie of the Year Jenna Lahaie has played atop the Corsairs' lineup for a second-straight year, with returners Mollie McCaffrey, Samantha Rollings, Molina Oung and Jillian Reichert all seeing consistent action. Freshman Jaime Fastino has been the team's top player all season long, as she has posted a team-high 11 doubles victories and 21 overall wins.
SCOUTING THE BEACONS
For the first time in the current LEC Tournament format, UMass Boston will be making back-to-back tournament appearances under tenth-year head coach Eric Berg. The Beacons will be looking for their first-ever LEC Tournament win in their fifth all-time playoff appearance (0-4).
This year's team put together the program's first four-match winning streak since 2001 and the team's first-ever four-match LEC winning streak. Led by the program's five returners, the Beacons have recorded six overall wins for the fourth time in six seasons.
Senior Kelsey Shea (West Bridgewater, Mass.) leads the team with her eight singles wins, six doubles victories and 14 total wins. Junior Kristy Garcia (Miami, Fla.) enters the postseason riding a two-match winning streak at number one singles. A year ago, Garcia finished a perfect 2-0 in the team's 5-2 loss to UMass Dartmouth.
LOOKING FORWARD
The winner of Tuesday's match will travel to number two Rhode Island College Thursday afternoon.
