Huskies Close Season Sunday at Western Connecticut

            NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Corsairs women's tennis team clinched the third seed in the upcoming Little East Conference tournament Saturday dispatching the visiting University of Southern Maine Huskies 9-0 in their regular-season finale.

            The win extended the Corsairs' winning streak to five, and improved their record to 9-4 overall and 6-2 in the conference.  UMD will host the sixth seed and in-state rival University of Massachusetts Boston in a quarterfinal round match on Tuesday.  The Huskies dropped their fifth straight match to slip to 1-10 overall and remain winless in conference play.  The Huskies will close the 2016 season tomorrow afternoon (12:00 p.m.) with a make-up Little East match at Western Connecticut State University.

            Paced by this past week's LEC Player of the Week, sophomore Jenna Lahaie (Lakeville, Mass.), and Rookie of the Week, freshman Jaime Fastino (Rehobeth, Mass.), the Corsairs swept through the three doubles matches to take a commanding 3-0 lead.  Lahaie combined with senior Jillian Reichert (Marion, Mass./Old Rochester) for an 8-4 win over USM's duo of sophomore Courtney Jordan (Portland, Maine/Westbrook) and freshman Mackenzie Colby (Southport, Maine/Boothbay Region) in the number one match.

            Fastino paired with junior Mollie McCaffrey (Taunton, Mass.) to knock off the USM team of senior Liz Martin (Naugatuck, Conn./Woodland Regional) and sophomore Margaret Smith (Farmingdale, Maine/Gardiner Area) in the number two match 8-0.

            The Corsairs breezed through the six singles matches to clinch the win.  The best singles match was the McCaffrey-Martin match at number two.  Martin forced the second set into a tiebreaker before falling 6-1, 7-6 (2). 

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