By Simmons College Athletics
No player dropped more than three games in singles action for the Simmons College tennis team in a 9-0 victory over visiting University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) Sunday afternoon in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference match played in Cambridge on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Sharks won their second straight match to improve to 3-4 overall and 2-0 in league play and also to extend their regular-season conference match win streak to 54 consecutive contests. The Blue Jays fall to 2-4 and 0-2.
The senior tandem of Katie Crowley (3-3 singles, 3-3 doubles) and Rachael Downey (2-4 singles, 2-4 doubles) won at number two doubles over the Saint Joseph rookie pair of Sakinah Abdulsalam and Ashley Savino, 8-0. Junior Theresa Reinhard (4-1 singles, 6-1 doubles) and senior Meg Cokely 4-1 singles, 6-1 doubles) followed suit at first doubles with an 8-2 victory over the Blue Jays’ junior Rebecca Mauri and first year Lucy Roberge.
Simmons took a 3-0 lead in its final doubles match when junior Ashley Pierce (3-2 singles, 2-1 doubles) and first year Ashley Chen (3-4 singles, 3-4 doubles) earned an 8-2 triumph over first years Leah Nguyen and Natalia Rozio.
Cokely did not drop a game at number two singles to give the Sharks a 4-0 cushion following a 6-0, 6-0 showing over Roberge. Downey clinched the dual match for Simmons, winning at fourth singles, 6-1, 6-0 over Savino.
Reinhard had little trouble at first singles for the Sharks with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Mauri, and Pierce went unblemished at sixth singles in a 6-0, 6-0 win over senior Serena Sundara to push the Simmons advantage to 7-0. Chen rung up a 6-2, 6-1 victory at fifth singles for the Sharks over Nguyen ,and Crowley finished the day for Simmons with a 6-3, 6-0 victory at number three singles over Abdulsalam.
The Sharks will be in action again on Sunday, Sept. 27, when they travel to take on intercity and GNAC rival Suffolk University at 12 p.m., while Saint Joseph heads to Dartmouth, Mass. on Sept. 24 for a 4 p.m. match.
