Women's Tennis Advances to Little East Title Match

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- The second seeded Bridgewater State College women's tennis team won all three doubles matches and the first two completed singles matches to defeat number three seed Rhode Island College, 5-0, in the semifinals of the Little East Conference Tournament held at the UMass Dartmouth Athletic Conference on Saturday. 

Top seeded and host UMass Dartmouth defeated fourth seeded Western Connecticut State University, 5-2, in the other semifinal to set up a return match with the Bears in Sunday's conference championship.

Junior Lauren Donnelly (Centerville, MA) and sophomore Jessica Francis (West Barnstable, MA) teamed for an 8-5 win at first doubles while sophomore Rachel Elman (Rehoboth, MA) and junior Paulina Ucher (Webster, MA) paired up for an 8-5 victory at the second flight.  Junior Catarina Rosa (Fall River, MA) and senior Paula Araujo (Fall River, MA) gave BSC a sweep of the doubles matches with an 8-6 win.

Rosa defeated RIC sophomore Kim Field (Barrington, RI) at number four singles, 6-1, 6-0, while Ucher downed freshman Gabriela Batek (Greenville, RI) at number five singles, 6-2, 6-1 to give the Bears a 5-0 lead and the decision. Saturday's matches were stopped as soon as one team accumulated five points.

UMass Dartmouth won two of the three doubles matches. Sophomore Amy Lopes (Dartmouth, MA), who combined with senior Becky Bullock (Wrentham, MA) to defeat sophomores Justine Perna (Burlington, CT) and Lauren Post (Danbury, CT) at number one doubles, then defeated Perna at number one singles, 6-1, 6-1, to make it 3-1. Post defeated Bullock at number two, 6-4, 6-1 to make it 3-2. Sophomore Alexa Fiorita (Reading, MA) downed sophomore Brittany DiMauro (Torrington, CT) at number five singles, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to make it 4-2, and freshman Kelsey Grossmann (Holliston, MA) downed junior Brittany Hoyack (Old Lyme, CT) to clinch the match.

Bridgewater State improved to 12-3 with the victory, while RIC dropped to 8-8 with the loss.  UMass Dartmouth is now 14-1, while WCSU ends the 2008 season with a record of 9-4.  The Bears and the Corsairs will play Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. for the LEC championship and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships.