Women's Tennis Falls in First Round of GNAC Tournament, 5-0

BRIGHTON, Mass. - The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) women's tennis team saw their season come to a close, falling to the No. 3 seed Simmons University Sharks (Simmons), 5-0, during the first round of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championships on Wednesday afternoon. The Sharks would take all three doubles contests before winning the first two singles matches to finish, taking home the 5-0 victory. 

MATCH INFORMATION 
Score: #6 USJ 0, #3 Simmons 5 
Records: USJ (3-8), Simmons (8-5) 
Location: Daly Field (Brighton, Mass.) 

KEY MOMENTS 

• The No. 1 doubles team of Kathleen Gilland (Wethersfield, Conn.) and Emily Kerr (Portland, Conn.) started off the match for the Blue Jays in the opening doubles contest. The duo would battle Simmon's pair of Olga Zhizhin (Newton, Mass.) and Avery Halloran (Southington, Conn), as the Sharks took the first match, 8-4. 

• Liliana Garcia (Wethersfield, Conn.) and Ananya Srivatsav (South Windsor, Conn.) looked to even the match quickly for the Blue Jays against Simmons Libby Weed (Brooksville, Maine) and Annabelle Halloran (Mill Valley, Calif.) in No. 2 doubles. The two teams would battle and forth, forcing a tiebreaker with the match tied at 7-7. The tiebreaker would be a close contest, with both teams trading points, but Weed and Halloran would prevail, taking the tiebreaker 7-5, and giving the Sharks a 2-0 lead. 

• Julia Michaud (Bristol, Conn.) and Bernae Webb (Bridgeport, Conn.) would look to get USJ on the board in No. 3 doubles, facing off against the pair of Leah Bonis (Bath, Maine) and Sam Margolin (Ridgefield, Conn.). The Sharks though, would take the match, 8-1, sweeping the doubles portion against USJ, 3-0. 

• Halloran would extend the gap for Simmons, taking the No. 4 singles contest against Srivatsav in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5. Her victory meant that the Sharks needed to win one more singles match to put an end to the contest and give them the victory. 

• USJ's Gia Alvarez (Meriden, Conn.) looked to mount the comeback for the Blue Jays in No. 6 singles, taking on Simmons' Margolin. However, it would be Margolin that took the match, 6-4, 6-2, putting an end to the contest and giving Simmons the 5-0 victory. 

QUOTABLE 

"I'm so proud of my team for competing hard throughout our season," said head coach Karen Piazza. "Heading into the GNAC postseason, I feel like we improved on all counts. Our doubles partnerships came through with solid net play and our singles players remained headstrong throughout their individual matches. It was a pleasure to work with and coach all of these talented women this season." 

NOTES 

• The team of Gilland and Kerr fell to 3-8 on the afternoon.

• With the result, Garcia and Srivatsav moved to 5-4 in No. 2 doubles. In singles play, Srivatsav moved to 4-4 on the year. 

• Michaud and Webb's saw their record drop to 4-5 at No. 3 doubles on the season. 

• Alvarez's record in singles action would move to 3-6 after her match. 

• The Sharks increased their winning streak to 14 matches against the Blue Jays. 

• USJ moves to 3-7 in postseason play since 2010 with the result. 

• Simmons now moves on to face No. 2 Regis in the GNAC semifinals.