Women’s Tennis Lose Heartbreaker to JWU in GNAC Semis

WINCHESTER, Mass. – Leading by a score of 3-1, the Suffolk women's tennis team was unable to close out the GNAC tournament's third-seed Johnson & Wales Saturday night, falling 5-4, in the semifinals at the Winchester Tennis Courts. 

Suffolk, who earned the second seed in the tournament, concludes its season 10-5 overall, notching the most victories since the 2007 squad went 14-1.

The Rams opened up the early 2-1 lead in the contest, claiming two doubles points with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. After the Wildcats got on the board with a sweep of Lyndsay Reese  and Isabel Rathlev, Aidiana Sagyndykova and Rebecca Eshoo finished off Morgang Thompson and Victoria Pizzulo at court one. Valentina Medina and Abby Trigilio pulled out an 8-4 victory over Emily Glass and Delaney Macchirole to put Suffolk ahead, 2-1.

The six-time GNAC Corvias Rookie of the Week, Medina, quickly made it a 3-1 match in favor of the Rams when she took down Glass, 6-1, 6-0, in the second slot. 

From there, the Wildcats rattled off three singles victories to take the lead, 4-3. 

Elena Cisneros fell to Macchirole in the sixth position, 6-0, 6-1, before Eshoo dropped a 6-1, 6-1 decision to Klein at No. 3. On court four, Trigilio was bested by Torre, 6-2, 6-3. 

Sagyndykova, the Rams' ace, put Suffolk back out in front as the senior downed Thompson, 6-2, 7-5. 

Similar to the regular season match, all eyes fell on the fifth court where Rathlev was battling with Samantha Gambino. Rathlev was victories in the first meeting and it looked to be that way to clinch the point for the Rams and send them to the championship after she took the first set, 6-4. Gambino rallied in the second stanza, however, 6-2, to force a third frame. Rathlev could not find her footing and Gambino came out victorious, 6-0, to clinch the point and match for JWU.