By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's tennis team had a 4-4 record in late September when the season took a positive turn.
The Bears scored an impressive victory on Sept. 30, edging past the University of Massachusetts Boston, 4-3, to gain a huge boost of momentum.
The Beacons had won 26 consecutive Little East Conference regular-season matches, last losing to Rhode Island College on Oct. 16, 2021.
UMass Boston also swept the regular-season and conference tournament titles three straight years starting in 2022.
BSU, picked to finish fourth in the preseason coaches poll, handed the Beacons a rare loss when sophomore Morgan Smith (Taunton, Mass.) broke a 3-3 tie by winning at No. 3 singles.
That was the third of seven consecutive victories for the Bears to end the regular season, helping them earn the No. 2 seed in the Little East tourney.
After receiving a bye in the quarterfinal round, BSU will open the postseason on Thursday by hosting none other than UMass Boston at 3 p.m. at the Rosen Memorial Courts in the semifinal round.
The Bears (9-4, 7-1 in the Little East) and the Beacons (10-4, 6-2) have not met in the tournament since the quarterfinal round in 2017, a 5-0 BSU win.
UMass Boston is bidding for a fourth straight tournament title, defeating RIC three straight years in the final. The Bears last won the title in 2016 by defeating RIC, 5-4.
To get back to the final for the first time since 2017, BSU will have to defeat UMass Boston for a second time this season.
"We have a team coming in that's veteran, well coached, their players are excellent," said Bears coach David Purpura. "I don't think anything about this postseason is going to be easy.
"But I do think the girls have put themselves into the best position to succeed -- give yourself a bye, give yourself a home match -- and now we've got to show up and play really good tennis."
BSU has not lost since a 5-2 defeat to RIC on Sept. 20.
That win over UMass Boston 10 days later was the second of six in a row against conference opponents.
"Any time in tennis you get a team upset, it can be a big deal," said Purpura. "In order to get those kind of wins, you need multiple players all having a good day on the same day. That's something we've talked about. The strength of our group is our depth and we can be competitive at any position on any given day.
"From that point on, we went undefeated in the conference. In any sport when you can beat the defending champion and a team like Boston that has a proud history in women's and men's tennis, it just adds to the belief.
"When you can beat a team like that, you have no choice but to believe you're capable on any given day of beating the best. That was a big moment for us in terms of being fully committed every day in practice to what our goals were."
Of the seven players in the starting lineup, six are sophomores and one is a junior.
Sophomore Ava Alves (Taunton, Mass.) missed her freshman season due to ankle surgery and is 11-1, 8-0 in the Little East, while playing Nos. 5 and 6 singles.
"She had to put in so much work to get in the lineup after the surgery and has had a really good first collegiate season,'' said Purpura.
Smith won her only two singles matches as a freshman and is now playing No. 3, going 6-1 in the conference and 7-5 overall.
Sophomore Aislyn Kelliher (Plymouth, Mass.) spent her first year playing Nos. 4 or 5 singles and has jumped to No. 2 this season. She owns a 5-2 record in the Little East.
Junior Samantha Bettencourt (Tiverton, R.I.) is 9-4 and 6-2 in the conference while sophomore Sarah Pothier (Rochester, Mass.) is 5-2 in the Little East, 7-5 overall.
The No. 3 doubles team of Bettencourt and junior Fiona Clancy (Middleboro, Mass.) is 6-1 in the Little East while sophomore Emma Gibney (New Bedford, Mass.), who has been playing No. 1 singles, and Pothier are 4-2 in doubles.
"All of these girls have risen to every challenge Ron (Santacroce, assistant coach) and I have given them," said Purpura. "These girls really responded to the challenges. They really worked hard in the summer.
"As a (young) group, in some ways they're ahead of schedule as far as what they're capable of. But they're perfectly capable of beating anybody on any given day."
The BSU-UMass Boston winner advances to Saturday's title match against either undefeated RIC or fourth-seeded UMass Dartmouth with a berth in the NCAA tourney on the line.
To reach the next step, the Bears will have to duplicate what they did against the Beacons more than three weeks ago.
"Boston has a lot of really good players, but like anybody, we feel like there's strong points and weak points in the lineup," said Purpura. "We have to focus on being consistent and make sure everyone is playing what they're capable of so we make every pointa battle. If we do that, we like our chances."