Women's Tennis Stuns Defending Little East Champion UMass Boston, 4-3

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's tennis team picked up an impressive victory on Tuesday afternoon.

The Bears edged the University of Massachusetts Boston, 4-3, at the Rosen Memorial Tennis Courts, ending the Beacons' 26-match Little East Conference regular-season winning streak.

UMass Boston had not lost a regular-season conference match since Oct. 16, 2021 when it was defeated by Rhode Island College.

The Beacons went 8-0 in both 2022 and 2023, 8-0 in 2024 and opened this season at 2-0.

UMass Boston has won three straight Little East tournament and regular-season championships.

Sophomore Morgan Smith (Taunton, Mass.) broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Bears the victory by winning at No. 3 singles.

BSU improved to 5-4 and is 3-1 in the conference while UMass Boston is 4-3 and 2-1 in the Little East.

The Beacons held a 2-1 lead after doubles competition.

Junior Zainab Patel (Ahmedabad, India) and junior Sandra Watson (West Palm Beach, Fla.) won at No. 1 doubles for UMass Boston, besting sophomore Emma Gibney (New Bedford, Mass.) and sophomore Aislyn Kelliher (Plymouth, Mass.), 6-2.

Winning at No. 2 doubles for the Beacons was the duo of sophomore Tatiana Malone (South Dennis, Mass.) and freshman Athea Bradley (North Reading, Mass.) over Smith and sophomore Sarah Pothier (Rochester, Mass.), 6-3.

The Bears' No. 3 doubles pairing of junior Samantha Bettencourt (Tiverton, R.I.) and junior Fiona Clancy (Middleboro, Mass.) won, 6-4, over senior Maya Rubenstein (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and freshman Karina Khalsa (South Yarmouth, Mass.).

UMass Boston took a 3-1 lead when Patel was a winner at No. 1 singles over Gibney, 6-1, 6-0.

Kelliher won No. 2 singles for the Bears, defeating Watson, 6-0, 6-2.

BSU won the next two matches with Bettencourt downing Rubenstein, 6-0, 6-3, at No. 6 singles and sophomore Ava Alves (Taunton, Mass.) won at No. 5 singles over Shreya Saravana Rakshana
(Bengaluru, India), 6-4, 6-0.

The Beacons won at No. 4 singles behind Bradley, who stopped Pothier, 7-5, 6-3.

Smith gained the decisive point with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Malone.

BSU had lost four of its last five matches to UMass Boston. The Bears hold a 16-4 lead in a series that began in 2005.

BSU will be on the road Saturday, facing UMass Dartmouth at noon.

UMass Boston has a 3 p.m. home match against Lesley on Thursday.