BOSTON, Mass.—For the third-consecutive match, UMass Boston rallied from a 4-3 deficit, to earn a massive 5-4 Little East Conference victory.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 5, UMass Dartmouth 4
(UMass Boston 10-1, Little East 5-1)
(UMass Dartmouth 7-6, Little East 3-4)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Sophomore Meaghan Moriarty (Norton, Mass.) and freshman Shelby Parent (Cambridge, Minn.) each earned three-set singles wins, to lead UMass Boston past rival UMass Dartmouth in a historic regular-season victory.
The win helped the Beacons not only set a new single-season record for conference wins with five, but sent seniors Katie Gauthier (West Bolyston, Mass.) and Valeria Tueme (Booney Lake, Wash.) out with a victory on Senior Day.
Things started out well for UMass Boston on the day, as they jumped out to a 2-1 lead after doubles.
Chloe Gates (Plymouth, Mass.) and Evangelia Vassiliadis (Weymouth, Mass.) opened the match with an 8-4 win at third doubles.
Tueme and Parent pushed the lead to 2-0, as they teamed up for an 8-5 win at second doubles.
Amy Drame (Milwaukee, Wisc.) and Gauthier led 5-4 at number one singles, but UMass Dartmouth's Lauren Morgart and Jaime Fastino rallied for an 8-6 victory.
UMass Dartmouth kept the momentum going into singles play, as they took the first two matches to finish to take a 3-2 lead.
At number five singles, Melanie Wong defeated Tueme 6-0, 6-4 to tie the match 2-2.
Morgart made it 3-2 when she defeated Drame 7-5, 6-1 at number one singles.
Vassiliadis tied the match back up at 3-3, when the Beacons' freshman defeated Natasha Shiku 7-5, 6-4.
Each of the final three matches to finish went three sets and easily could have gone either way.
Gauthier took the first set 6-4 at second singles, but Fastino fought back for an epic 7-6 (11-9) win in a tiebreaker in the second set. The Corsairs senior kept the momentum going into the third as she earned a 4-6, 7-6 (11-9), 6-1 win.
With the Beacons backs against the wall, Moriarty picked up a thrilling 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over Rachel Aftandilian at fourth singles, to keep the Beacons alive.
Parent was up 6-4, 5-3 at sixth singles at that point, but Jackie Bokis rushed back to win the second set 7-5, and push the match to a deciding third set. Parent settled back in and blanked Bokis in the third set for a 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 win.
BY THE NUMBERS
- With the win, UMass Boston not only set the single-season program record for conference wins (five), but also tied the single-season mark for overall wins (10). The 2001 team is the only other team to win double-digit matches, after they went 10-3.
- Saturday's win marked the second-ever win for UMass Boston over UMass Dartmouth in women's tennis. The Beacons only other win came in the first-ever matchup between the two teams (September 26, 2001).
- UMass Boston has now won three-straight 5-4 conference matches. The Beacons have won two doubles matches in all three matches and Vassiliadis and Parent are both 3-0 during singles play in that span.
- With her two wins, Vassiliadis becomes the fifth-player in program history to win 20 or more matches in a single-season. The freshman improved to 20-2 on the season in the victory.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will travel to Castleton University on Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. The match will begin a three-match week to conclude the regular season for the Beacons.
