Southern Maine Get First LEC Win, Downs UMass Boston 6-3
GORHAM, Maine -- The University of Southern Maine women's tennis team rallied from a 2-1 deficit to take five of a possible six singles points to defeat the University of Massachusetts Boston, 6-3, in a Little East Conference match Tuesday afternoon at the Gorham High School courts.
The win snaps the Huskies' three-match winless streak, and improves their record to 3-6 overall and 1-3 in conference matches. The Beacons dropped their second straight to slide to 1-5 overall and 0-3 in LEC play.
Junior Sarah Hill (Topsham, Maine/Mt. Ararat) ignited the Huskies' rally taking a 6-1, 6-4 victory over freshman Kristy Garcia (Miami, Fla.) at number one singles. Junior Molly Gallagher (South Portland, Maine/Deering) followed Hill with a three-set win (6-1, 1-6, 6-3) over Martina Daelli (Florence, Italy) at number two singles.
In doubles play, Garcia and Daelli combined for an 8-3 win over Hill and Gallagher at number one. The UMB duo of sophomore Kelsey Shea (West Bridgewater, Mass.) and junior Logan Smith (Southwick, Mass.) picked up the Beacons' second point with an 8-2 win over junior Courtney Aldrich (Lewiston, Maine) and sophomore Liz Martin (Naugatuck, Conn./Woodland Regional).
Sophomores Katie Quinn (Hollis, Maine/Bonny Eagle) and Emily Collins (St. David, Maine/Madawaska) earned Southern Maine's lone doubles point with a 9-7 win over sophomores Kathleen Conroy (Quincy, Mass.) and Vicky Woytowicz (Springfield, Mass.).
Aldrich, Martin and Quinn took straight-sets singles victories over Smith, Shea and Conroy at three, four and five, respectively, to clinch the come-from-behind victory for the Huskies.
Junior Nurcin Celebi (Istanbul, Turkey) earned the Beacons' lone singles point winning a super tiebreaker 12-10 over Collins after the pair split the first two sets. Celebi took the opening set 64 before Collins came back 7-5 in the second set to force the super tiebreaker.
Southern Maine hits the road this weekend traveling to Western Connecticut State University for an LEC match on Saturday (1:00 p.m.). UMass Boston's next match is Saturday (1:00 p.m.) at Rhode Island College.
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