Women's Tennis Holds Off Southern Maine in LEC Match, 4-3

By Jim Fenton

GORHAM, Maine -- The Bridgewater State University women's tennis team kept its unbeaten record against the University of Southern Maine going Saturday afternoon.

The Bears are now 22-0 against the Huskies after a 4-3 victory at Gorham High School.

BSU improved to 4-4 overall and is 2-1 in the Little East Conference. Southern Maine fell to 2-5 and is 1-2 in the conference.

The two teams first met in 2004 when the Bears joined the Little East.

BSU won two of the three doubles matches to start the day.

At No. 2 doubles, sophomore Morgan Smith (Taunton, Mass.) and sophomore Sarah Pothier (Rochester, Mass.) posted a 6-3 victory over graduate student Hanni Johnson (Livermore, Maine) and freshman Payton Thibodeau (Gorham, Maine).

BSU took No. 3 doubles with junior Samantha Bettencourt (Tiverton, R.I.) and junior Fiona Clancy (Middleboro, Mass.) downing freshman Muriel Lattin (Kennebunk, Maine) and freshman Alexis Hayward (Acton, Maine), 6-0.

The Huskies prevailed at No. 1 doubles as senior Abby Emerson (Gorham, Maine) and sophomore Alyssa Conley (Windham, Maine) defeated sophomore Emma Gibney (New Bedford, Mass.) and sophomore Aislyn Kelliher (Plymouth, Mass.), 6-2.

Pothier won at No. 3 singles, 6-0, 6-2, over Johnson while sophomore Ava Alves (Taunton, Mass.) was also a straight set winner at No. 5 singles for the Bears, besting Hayward, 6-0, 6-0.

No. 6 singles went to Clancy by forfeit.

Conley defeated Gibney, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 1 singles while Thibodeau was a 6-4, 3-6, 13-11 winner at No. 2 singles over Kelliher.

The other Huskies' winner was Lattin, who stopped Bettencourt, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 4 singles.

BSU is home on Tuesday to face UMass Boston at 3:30 p.m.