Women’s Tennis Enters Win Column, Defeats USJ, 6-3

BELMONT, Mass. – Suffolk women's tennis captured its first win of the Drew Goldstein era with a 6-3 victory over Saint Joseph (Conn.) Monday night at Belmont Hill. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 6 | St. Joseph (Conn.) 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (1-3) | St. Joseph (Conn.) (2-3)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk started the match with a 2-1 lead after capturing wins on the top two doubles courts. 

Alyssa Blade and Bianca Prescott broke open the scoring as the senior captains bested Liliana Garcia and Jenna Griffith, 8-2, in the second slot. The Blue Jays evened the playing field as they captured the third court, beforfe the Rams' rookie twosome of Caren Urbano and Rachel Hill combined forces as the top tandem for an 8-7 (7-5) win over Kathleen GIlland and Emily Kerr to send Suffolk into singles play up one point. 

With a win from the third court, USJ equalized matters at 2-all.  

Zakharava and Consales captured their respective singles matches to put the host within one point of its first victory. Zakharava downed Anna Nemergut, 8-1, from the sixth slot, while Consales took down Gia Alvares, 8-2.  

The Blue Jays would not go down without a fight and made things interesting with a win in the second spot.

With the score 4-3 Suffolk, Hill sealed the triumph for the blue-and-gold with an 8-2 decision in the fourth position. 
Urbano's 8-7 (7-5) win against Gilland on the first singles court made the 6-3 final.  

RESULTS

SINGLES
1 – Caren Urbano (Suffolk) defeated Kathleen Gilland (USJ), 8-7 (7-5)
2 – Emily Kerr (USJ) defeated Bianca Prescott (Suffolk), 8-1
3 – Liliana Garcia (USJ) defeated Alyssa Blade (Suffolk), 8-1
4 – Rachel Hill (Suffolk) defeated Julia Michaud (USJ), 8-2
5 – Barbara Consales (Suffolk) defeated Gia Alvares (USJ), 8-2
6 – Anastasiya Zakharava (Suffolk) defeated Anna Nemergut (USJ), 8-1 

DOUBLES
1 – Caren Urbano/Rachel Hill (Suffolk) defeated Kathleen Gilland/Emily Kerr (USJ), 8-7 (7-5)
2 – Bianca Prescott/Alyssa Blade (Suffolk) defeated Liliana Garcia/Jenna Griffith (USJ), 8-2
3 – Julia Micaud/Bernae Web (USJ) defeated Anastasiya Zakharava/Barbara Consales, 8-5 

ORDER OF FINISH: Singles (3, 6, 5, 2, 4, 1) | Doubles (2, 3, 1)

NOTEWORTHY

• The Rams won their first match in the Goldstein era.
• Suffolk improved to 15-1 all-time against the Blue Jays. 
• Zakharava captured her first collegiate wins, in singles and doubles, respectively. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
uffolk looks to carry its winning momentum into tomorrow's tilt (Sept. 20) at UMass Dartmouth. Action is set to get underway at 3:30 p.m.