GORHAM, Maine -- Senior Emily Yanchun (Saugus, Mass.) won the decisive point to give the Salem State University Vikings a hard-fought, 5-4 victory over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a Little East Conference women's tennis match Saturday afternoon at the Costello Sports Complex Field House.
The win evened the Vikings overall record at 3-3, and improved their conference record to 2-1. The Huskies dropped their third straight match to slide to 3-9 overall and 1-5 in the conference. The one-point loss was the fifth of the season for the Huskies.
With the match tied a 4-4, it all came down to the number six singles match between Yanchun and USM sophomore Emily Collins (St. David, Maine/Madawaska). Yanchun prevailed in the first set 7-5, then came back to take the second set 6-4 to give the Vikings the decisive fifth point.
Southern Maine took a 2-1 lead by taking a pair of doubles matches. Junior Molly Gallagher (South Portland, Maine/Deering) combined with sophomore Katie Quinn (Hollis, Maine/Bonny Eagle) for an 8-3 win at second doubles, and juniors Courtney Aldrich (Lewiston, Maine) and Emily Estes (Gorham, Maine) pulled out a 9-7 win at number three.
Gallagher came back from a set down against junior April McDermott (Tewksbury, Mass.) to post a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win at number two singles, and Quinn had a 6-3, 6-3 victory over sophomore Kat Troisi (Lynn, Mass./St. Mary's) at number five singles.
Junior Jennifer Cleary (Swampscott, Mass.) picked up a pivotal point for the Vikings coming back from a set down to earn a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 win over junior Sarah Hill (Topsham, Maine/Mt. Ararat) at the top of the singles ladder. Senior Lauren Woods (Burlington, Mass.) and junior Hillary Gustafson (Belchertown, Mass.) posted straight-sets wins at numbers three and four, respectively, to set the stage for Yanchun.
Southern Maine is back on the courts tomorrow (12:00 p.m.) hosting Colby College. Salem State will be at the University of Massachusetts Boston for a Little East match on Tuesday (3:00 p.m.).
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