GORHAM, Maine – Senior Denise Ridge (Milton, Mass./Milton) and sophomore Emily Johnson (Saugus, Mass./Saugus) each won their singles flight and combined to earn a win at no. 1 doubles to lead the UMass Boston Beacons to a 6-3 win over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a Little East Conference tennis match Saturday afternoon in Gorham.

The win was the first of the season for the Beacons who improve to 1-6 overall and 1-5 in the LEC. The Huskies remain winless on the season at 0-11 and 0-7 in the Little East.

Ridge defeated Southern Maine freshman Kelly Maloney (Windham, Maine/Windham) at no. 1 singles 6-1, 6-0 and Johnson earned a 6-1, 6-1 win over USM freshman Heidi Graceffa (Calais, Maine/Calais) at no. 2 singles as the Beacons won four out of the six singles points.

In doubles action, Ridge and Maloney proved a formidable tandem at no. 1 doubles earning an 8-3 win over Maloney and Graceffa as UMass Boston took two out of the three doubles points from the Huskies.

Southern Maine junior co-captains Ashley Kirkpatrick (Sanford, Maine/Sanford) and Sara Willey (Windham, Maine/Windham) each earned victories for the Huskies in singles action. Kirkpatrick bested UMass Boston freshman Julie Circosta (Rutland, Mass./Wachusetts Regional) 6-2, 7-5 at no. 4 singles, while Willey defeated UMB freshman Kristen Chan (Tustin, Calif./Foothill) 6-2, 6-3 at no. 3 singles. Willey and Kirkpatrick also earned the Huskies lone point in double action defeating Chan and Circosta at no. 2 doubles 8-2.

Today’s match was the regular season finale for both teams. Both Southern Maine and UMass Boston return to action Friday-Saturday (Oct. 20-21) at the Little East Conference tournament hosted by UMass Dartmouth.