Women's Tennis Downs Salem State for Sixth Straight Win

By Jim Fenton

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's tennis team ran its winning streak to six on Tuesday afternoon.

The Bears stayed perfect on the road this season with a 5-2 victory over Salem State University at the Willows Tennis Center.

It is the longest winning streak by BSU since it had six straight victories near the end of the 2022 season.

The Bears improved to 8-4 and 6-1 in the Little East Conference with one match remaining. The Vikings fell to 4-4 and 3-4 in the conference.

BSU, which is 4-0 on the road, has not lost since falling to first-place Rhode Island College on Sept. 20.

The Bears won two of three doubles matches and four of six singles matches to defeat Salem State.

Winning No. 1 doubles for BSU was the duo of sophomore Aislyn Kelliher (Plymouth, Mass.) and sophomore Morgan Smith (Taunton, Mass.), which defeated senior Madison Sartori (Amesbury, Mass.) and senior Kenzie McLaren (Lynn, Mass.), 6-3.

Also prevailing in doubles for the Bears was the No. 2 team of sophomore Emma Gibney (New Bedford, Mass.) and sophomore Sarah Pothier (Rochester, Mass.), 7-5, over graduate student Samantha Tenney (Danvers, Mass.) and junior Ryann Tripp (Wareham, Mass.).

Salem State took No. 3 doubles with freshman Samantha Bidzerkowny (Wellsville, N.Y.) and sophomore Delaney Cox (Spencer, Mass.) winning over junior Samantha Bettencourt (Tiverton, R.I.) and junior Fiona Clancy (Middleboro, Mass.), 6-3.

Kelliher was a winner at No. 2 singles over McLaren, 6-0, 6-0, and Pothier defeated Tenney at No. 4 singles, 6-0, 6-0.

Sophomore Ava Alves (Taunton, Mass.) prevailed at No. 5 singles over Tripp, 6-3, 6-2, while Bettencourt was a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Cox at the sixth flight. Alves is now 10-1 on the season and a perfect 7-0 against LEC opponents.

Winning for Salem State at No. 1 singles was Sartori over Gibney, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. Bidzerkowny was the winner at No. 3 singles over BSU's Smith.

BSU concludes the regular season with a trip to New Hampshire to face Plymouth State University on Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Little East tournament begins on Oct. 21 and continues Oct. 23 and 25.

Salem State travels to Vermont State Castleton on Saturday for a 1 p.m. match.