PROVIDENCE, R.I.—UMass Boston women's tennis suffered their first setback of the 2019 season, as defending Little East Conference Champion Rhode Island College handed the Beacons an 8-1 loss.
THE BASICS
Rhode Island College 8, UMass Boston 1
(UMass Boston 2-1, Little East 0-1)
(Rhode Island College 3-0, Little East 1-0)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Freshman Shelby Parent (Cambridge, Minn.) helped the Beacons avoid the shutout, as she earned a 6-4, 6-3 win at sixth singles.
Rhode Island College took control from the start, as they held the Beacons to just six games across the three doubles spots. In the closest of the the three matches, Chloe Gates (Plymouth, Mass.) and Evangelia Vassiliadis (Weymouth, Mass.) fell 8-3 at number three doubles.
In singles play, freshman Amy Drame (Milwaukee, Wisc.) made her collegiate debut at first singles. The freshmen lost the first set 6-3, before retiring in the second set while trailing 3-0.
The Anchorwomen clinched the match win at fifth singles. Victoria Vittori swept Valeria Tueme (Bonney Lake, Wash.) 6-1, 6-1.
Hailey Raskob defeated Meaghan Moriarty (Norton, Mass.) 6-1, 6-2 at fourth singles to make it 6-0 in favor of the hosts.
Senior Katie Gauthier (West Boylston, Mass.) won the second-most games of any Beacon during singles play. Gauthier fell 6-1, 6-3 at second singles to Jenna Lisi.
At third singles, Grace Zangari defeated Vassiliadis 6-0, 6-3.
In the final match to finish, Parent went back-and-forth with Sarah Gonick before clinching the Beacons' only win.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Parent is the first Beacons player to start the year 3-0 in singles since seniors Kathleen Conroy ('18) and Kristy Garcia ('18) each started the 2017-18 season 3-0 in singles play.
- UMass Boston is the first team this season to take a point off the Anchorwomen. In their first two matches, Rhode Island College swept Wentworth Institute of Technology and Curry College 9-0.
- With the loss, UMass Boston falls to 3-21 all-time against RIC.
- UMass Boston debuted a new look lineup, with all nine spots in their lineup changing from the opening weekend.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will host Lesley University on Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in their 2019-20 home opener.
