Women's Tennis Suffers 5-4 Setback to Suffolk in Season Opener

BOSTON, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's tennis team dropped a tough 5-4 decision to host Suffolk University in the regular season opener for both teams on Thursday evening.

The host Rams led 2-1 after doubles play following an 8-5 win by junior Aidiana Sagyndykova (Almaty, Kazakstahn) and sophomore Valentina Media (San Andrés, Columbia) at first doubles and an 8-7 triumph by seniors Rebecca Eshoo (Farminghton, Conn.) and Abby Trigilio (Ipswich, Mass.) at the second flight. Eshoo and Trigilio edged the Bears' sophomore combination of Alison Scagnelli (Sutton, Mass.) and Bojana Roman (Somerset, Mass.) in a 15-13 tie-breaker.

BSU's lone doubles point came from the third flight pairing of senior captain Alison Vautrin (Somerset, Mass.) and sophomore newcomer Rebecca Zeuschner (West Hartford, Conn.). Vautrin and Zeuschner posted an 8-3 victory to cut the deficit to 2-1 heading into single play.

Sagyndykova and Media cruised to straight set victories at the top two singles flights to give the Rams a 4-1 lead. The Bears, however responded with straight set wins from Scagnelli and Roman at five and six, respectively, to make it a 4-3 match with two flights remaining.

BSU freshman Hayley Anderson (San Antonio, Texas) then evened the match at four apiece with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 triumph in her collegiate debut at number three singles.

All eyes fell on the fourth court where Trigilio faced Zeuschner. Trigilio took the first set in a tie-breaker, 7-6 (7-4), but was swept in the second, 6-0. With the match-deciding set knotted at 2-2, Zeuschner was forced to medically retire giving Suffolk the tightly contested 5-4 win.

Suffolk (1-0) returns to action Saturday afternoon when it entertains Lesley at 1:00 PM. Bridgewater State (0-1) has the weekend off before making the trek to Beverly, Massachusetts for a Tuesday afternoon match (3:30) at Endicott College.