UMass Boston Women’s Tennis closed their season out on Saturday, Oct. 14. Their last two matches, according to Beacons Athletics, consisted of a road game against Nichols College and a home game against Western Connecticut State University, the last conference opponent of theirs. [1] They ended up splitting the two matches.
According to Beacons Athletics, this was the first time in history that Nichols College matched up against the Beacons in women’s tennis. [2] It was a harsh welcome party for the Beacons, as for the first time this year, they were swept in their doubles matches, losing 8–3, 8–4 and 8–5, respectively.
The match went onto singles, where the Beacons refused to go down without a fight. Ayonna Stuppard took care of her opponent, Sofia Leonardi, who, according to Beacons Athletics, comfortably won the match in two sets. Meagan Carney fought until the very end against the Bisons’ Cora Brosch, taking it the full distance with three sets. Carney ended up coming out on top. [3]
The standout freshman Zanaib Patel gave the match her all in what was an intense duel with the Bisons’ Antonia Correro. The first set was dominated by Patel, and the second was just the opposite. Patel and Correro went beyond six in the third, but Patel ended up keeping her undefeated singles streak alive, winning the set 8–6. [3]
Despite these hard-fought performances from the Beacons, they could not top the Bisons overall. They lost the match 6–3, their worst loss of the season. [3] With this loss, the Beacons fell to 1–2 in out of conference play, these two losses ultimately becoming their only two losses all season. This also snapped their impressive eight-game win streak. [1]
The only thing to do when you lose a tough match is to bounce back, and that’s exactly what the Beacons did. Back on home court, the team not only welcomed their final Little East Conference opponent, but their final opponent of the regular season. The WestConn Wolves were looking to spoil the Beacons’ 7–0 conference record. [1]
That did not happen, however, and the Beacons let their frustrations all out on the Wolves. This time around, according to Beacons Athletics, they were the ones sweeping doubles. Patel and Lydia Chan played a narrow match against the Wolves’ duo of Bodhi Kitt and Melanie Grasso, but the pair of Beacons came out on top 8–7. Outside of that match, the doubles were heavily in the Beacons favor with 8–1 and 8–2 victories. [4]
The singles matches saw similar results. The Beacons won five out of their six singles matches. According to Beacons Athletics, Patel shut her opponent, Kitt, out in their match, a fitting way for her to reach an 8–0 record in singles for the year. [5] Their only loss came when the Wolves’ Natalie Paradise came from behind to beat the Beacons’ Shreya Saravana Rakshana with a narrow 12–10 victory in the third set. [4] However, it was much too late for the Wolves by then.
The Beacons topped off their season with this 8–1 victory against the Wolves, solidifying their record at 9–2. This gave them a winning percentage of .818, which according to Beacons Athletics is higher than last season’s. [6] For the second year in a row, the Beacons beat every conference opponent thrown their way, earning them a bye in the LEC tournament.
Not only did they beat everybody in the LEC, they didn’t drop more than two matches against an LEC opponent all year; their most dominant performances consisted of three sweeps. [1] The Beacons simply looked unstoppable this season, and after convincingly showcasing their undeniable talent on the court with an even better showing than last year, there’s no question the program has set themselves up for success for years to come.
[1] https://beaconsathletics.com/sports/womens-tennis/schedule/2023-24
[2] https://beaconsathletics.com/news/2023/10/13/womens-tennis-falls-to-nichols-on-the-road.aspx
[3] https://beaconsathletics.com/sports/womens-tennis/stats/2023-24/nichols-college/boxscore/11494
[5] https://beaconsathletics.com/news/2023/10/14/womens-tennis-atop-the-lec-again.aspx
[6] https://beaconsathletics.com/sports/womens-tennis/schedule/2022-23