STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.—UMass Boston women's tennis dropped just 10 games in doubles, to cruise to a 9-0 win over the College of Staten Island in their season opener.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 9, College of Staten Island 0
(UMass Boston 1-0)
(College of Staten Island 0-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
UMass Boston needed just three hours and 20 minutes to dispatch the Dolphins in their first season-opening win since 2013.
All six Beacons who appeared in the match went 2-0-including freshman Katie Gauthier (West Boylston, Mass.) who earned wins at first doubles and third singles in her first collegiate match.
Juniors Kathleen Conroy (Quincy, Mass.) and Meghan Erickson (Hubbardston, Mass.) opened the match with a dominating 8-1 win at third singles.
The Beacons added to their lead at first doubles, as Gauthier and Kristy Garcia (Miami, Fla.) doubled up their opponents 8-4. In the third and final match to conclude, seniors Kelsey Shea (West Bridgewater, Mass.) and Vicky Woytowicz (Springfield, Mass.) held off a late charge at second doubles, to earn an 8-5 victory and the 3-0 sweep of doubles.
Gauthier quickly pushed the lead to 4-0 in singles, as the freshman routed her opponent 6-0, 6-1 at third singles.
UMass Boston clinched the match victory at fourth singles, when Woytowicz earned a 6-2, 6-1 victory.
Erickson extended the lead to 6-0 at number five singles with a 6-3, 6-2 victory. The junior was trailing 2-0 in the first set, before coming back to win six of the final seven games.
At sixth singles, Shea closed out her match on her fifth match point with a 6-2, 7-5 win.
Garcia kept the shutout going with a decisive 6-4, 6-2 win at number one singles.
In the final match of the day to finish, Conroy fought back from two huge deficits to earn the win at second singles. After dropping the first set 6-3, Conroy found herself trailing 5-2 in the second. She came all the way back to earn a 7-5 second set win, only to fall into an early 7-3 hole in the super tiebreaker. Conroy had one final comeback in her, as she took the super tiebreaker and the point with a 3-6, 7-5 (11-9) victory.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Saturday's match marked the first all-time meeting between the Beacons and the Dolphins.
- Gauthier is the first Beacon rookie to go 2-0 on Opening Day since Shea and Nuha Muntasser each finished 2-0 against MCLA in 2013.
- Saturday's win marked the 100th career victory for head coach Eric Berg at UMass Boston. Berg has recorded 57 wins with the men's tennis program and 43 with the women's tennis team.
- Conroy earned her first singles win since October 2014, after missing almost all of last season due to an injury.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will look to move to 2-0 on Sunday, when they travel to take on Farmingdale State University at 1 p.m.
