The UMass Boston Women’s Tennis team has yet to take their foot off the gas as they continue to rally past any opponent that stands in their way. According to Beacons Athletics, they recently matched up against UMass Dartmouth, Curry College and the University of Southern Maine, all of which the Beacons made easy work of (1).
Against the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs, the Beacons started doubles off in an intense fashion. According to Beacons Athletics, Lydia Chan and Meagan Carney found themselves in a fierce duel against IsaBella Winter and Ailey Riddick of the Corsairs. The match went back and forth but it ended in a narrow victory for the Beacons, winning 8–7 (2).
Ayonna Stuppard and Elena Albano were able to shut out their double opponent, but Sandra Watson and Shreya Saravana Rakshana were dished out an 8–3 loss. This was the first time the Beacons lost a doubles match against a Little East Conference opponent all season, but they did not let this shake them (2).
The Beacons won all but one of their singles, where Chan fell to Winter. The Beacons had dominated yet another school in an overall 7–2 victory (2). This was all against a Corsairs team that, according to Corsair Athletics, had a respectable 5–2 record going into the game, adding onto the fact that this was an extremely impressive showing (3).
Next up was Curry College, one of the Beacons’ two remaining matchups against out-of-conference opponents. The Beacons made easy work of the Colonels in both doubles and singles. According to Beacons Athletics, not a single match saw the Colonels break more than four points. They were simply no match for the Beacons, who completed a clean sweep, their second of the season (4).
This level of play carried over to their match against The University of Southern Maine as well. The Beacons won all of their doubles matches against them, including another victory for Albano and Stuppard, who reported by Beacons Athletics, moved to 6–0 as a duo after that match (5).
They completed the sweep by making light work of their singles matches as well. Albano, Carney, Stuppard and Saravana Rakshana, who is undefeated this season in singles matches, all allowed only a single point in their matches. The Beacons went two whole games without dropping a match (5).
The dates for the LEC tournament are officially set. The quarterfinals will take place Tuesday, Oct. 17; the semifinals on Thursday, Oct. 19 and the championship on Saturday, Oct. 21. As the reigning champions, the Beacons look like they’ll be favored to win it all once again. Every player on the team, whether they be a veteran or newcomer, has been playing at an elite level, and no LEC team has been able to win more than two matches against them yet.
However, success is not guaranteed. The team must continue to work hard in order to find themselves on top again. But it’s safe to say nobody is questioning their ability to do so. The rest of their schedule is made up of LEC games, with the exception of their match against Nichols College Thursday, Oct. 12.
It is going to be tough for any team to take out this year’s Beacons squad. They are talented, determined and are only getting better. The expectation is that come the end of October, the Beacons will be crowned conference champions for the second year in a row. If you didn’t know before, it should be clear now that they are perfectly capable of making that goal a reality.
Sources:
- https://beaconsathletics.com/sports/womens-tennis/schedule/2023-24
- https://beaconsathletics.com/news/2023/10/1/womens-tennis-beacons-maroon-corsairs-continue-lec-dominance.aspx
- https://corsairathletics.com/sports/womens-tennis/schedule
- https://beaconsathletics.com/news/2023/10/2/womens-tennis-beacons-make-quick-work-of-curry.aspx
- https://beaconsathletics.com/news/2023/10/4/womens-tennis-untouchable-against-southern-maine.aspx