PORTLAND, Maine – The University of Southern Maine Huskies women's tennis team defeated the Salem State University Vikings by a score of 5-4 on Tuesday afternoon at the Waynflete Athletic Complex in Portland. The win is the first for the Huskies since 2019 and the first Little East Conference victory since 2018. Southern Maine won two of the three doubles matches plus three singles matches to take the match. Sophomore Abby Emerson (Gorham, Maine) and senior Emma Nassif (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) each went 2-0 on the day for the Huskies.
 
The Huskies are now 1-4 on the season and 1-2 in conference play while the Vikings fall to 0-6 and 0-3 in conference.
 
Emerson and Nassif won 8-2 at first doubles over Samantha Tenney and Cassie Liu to extend the pair's winning streak to four matches. The pairing of junior Chloe McVetty (Windham, Maine) and sophomore Muriel Lattin (Litchfield, Maine) picked up their second win of the season at number three doubles with a 8-5 win over Erin Curristin and Alanna Zaldivar. Salem State earned a point at number two doubles when an injury forced the Husky duo of junior Rebecca Hamel (Windham, Maine) and senior Maggie Brock (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) to retire.
 
Emerson continued her winning streak by 6-1, 6-0 over Liu and has now won all five of her singles matches this season. Nassif evened her season record to 2-2 win over Tenney in the number two singles slot 6-0, 6-2. The Vikings battled back with three singles wins as Tripp defeated McVetty 6-0, 6-1 at fourth singles, Curristin got the better of Lattin 6-1, 6-2 in the fifth singles matchup and Alanna Zaldivar bested freshman Caraline Squires (Winthrop, Maine) 6-3, 6-0 at sixth singles.
 
With the team scores even at 4-4 the fate of the match came down to Hamel vs Miah Reyes facing off in the number three slot. Hamel wrapped up the contest winning 6-1, 6-3 to give the Huskies their first win since a 9-0 defeat of Thomas College on August 31, 2019. The win for Hamel was her first as a member of the Southern Maine program.
 
The Huskies will take the court again on Friday at 3:00 when they travel south for a road match against Rhode Island College.