BOSTON – After an 8-0 win at third doubles from sophomore Molly Gallagher (South Portland, Maine/Deering) and freshman Katie Quinn (Hollis, Maine/Bonny Eagle) the University of Southern Maine Huskies led from start to finish en route to a 5-3 win over the UMass Boston Beacons in a Little East Conference women's tennis match Tuesday afternoon at the B.C. High Tennis Courts. With the match in hand, the sixth singles match was not played due to darkness.
The win is the third straight and the first LEC victory for the Huskies improve their record to 6-2 overall and 1-2 in conference action. Suffering its second loss in as many matches, UMass Boston dips to 2-6 overall and 0-3 in Little East play.
Gallagher and Quinn defeated the Beacon tandem of freshman Kelsey Shea (West Bridgewater, Mass.) and sophomore Logan Smith (Southwick, Mass./Holyoke Catholic) to earn the first point of the match as USM led UMB 2-1 after doubles play. Senior Mary Moran (Windham, Maine/Portland) and freshman Liz Martin (Naugatuck, Conn./Woodland Regional) battled their way to an 8-6 win at second doubles defeating freshman Nuha Muntasser (Braintree, Mass.) and sophomore Solveig Castelli (Precogjo, France).
In singles action, the Huskies won at fourth, third and first singles – in that order – to secure the conference win. Moran defeated Muntasser 6-4, 6-3 at first singles, while Gallagher downed senior Samantha Counts (Bridgewater, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) 6-2, 6-1 at third singles. Sophomore Courtney Aldrich (Lewiston, Maine) downed Castelli 6-2, 6-2 at fourth singles.
Southern Maine travels to Salem State on Saturday (1:00 p.m. ) UMass Boston will compete at the ITA New England Regional tournament hosted by Williams College on Friday (tba).
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