BOSTON, Mass. – For only the second time in program history, UMass Boston Women's Tennis is headed to the Little East Conference Championship after the top-seeded Beacons took down four-seeded UMass Dartmouth on Thursday afternoon at the BC High Tennis Courts, 5-1.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 5, UMass Dartmouth 1
UMass Boston (10-1)
UMass Dartmouth (12-6)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The energy from both sides was high in the early going as the strong sophomore duo of
Elena Albano and
Ayonna Stuppard continued their #3 Doubles dominance with an 8-0 victory over senior McKenzie Ferrari and junior Caroline Lemieux.
Shortly after, junior transfer
Yana Semerly and freshman
Ayra Shaikh cemented the second Beacon win of the afternoon, defeating freshman Zuri Walters and sophomore Claire Yang, 8-0, in the #2 Doubles to give UMass Boston a 2-0 advantage overall.
The Corsairs would steal the #1 Doubles to cut their team deficit in half, 2-1, as juniors Isabella Winter and Ailey Riddick took that match 8-5 after going ahead early 2-0 and then falling behind 4-3 to juniors
Meagan Carney and
Lydia Chan.
UMass Boston would take the first three singles matches of the match, halting play to earn their 5-1 victory and trip to the LEC Championship match on Saturday. In the #5 Singles, Stuppard would take down Riddick in two sets by final scores of 6-1 before Shaikh swept through Walters in the #2 Singles in straight sets, 6-0.
The #3 Singles would clinch the victory for the Beacons as Carney capped off the day with 6-0 and 6-3 wins over Yang.
Still in progress at the conclusion of the match were Albano and senior Alanna O'Connell in the #4 Singles, Albano led the match by a set and trailed 3-2 in set number two. The #1 Singles between Chan and Winter remained in the first set with Winter holding a slight 5-4 edge. In the #6 Singles, senior
Lia Vassiliadis and freshman Bailey Clarke were getting ready to begin their match.
BY THE NUMBERS
- With two more victories today, Ayra Shaikh moves to 8-1 in Singles and Doubles this season
- Yana Semerly moves to a perfect 8-0 this year in Doubles matches
- The Beacons head to their second LEC Championship in program history, their last being in 2019 which they dropped 5-0 to Rhode Island College
- UMass Boston has now won 22 consecutive matches at home dating back to 2018
WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons move on to their second Little East Conference Championship all-time to face two-seeded Rhode Island College on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM on the BC High Tennis Courts. This will be a rematch from the regular season finale in which UMass Boston took at close 5-4 decision to win their first Little East Conference Regular Season Championship in program history.
