Women's Tennis Captures Share of Little East Regular Season Crown

BOSTON, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's tennis team earned a share of the 2016 Little East Conference regular season title and the top seed in next week's Little East Tournament as the visiting Bears downed UMass Boston, 8-1, on Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale for both teams.

The Bears improve to 9-5 on the season and 7-1 in the Little East, while the host Beacons fall to 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the conference standings.

Bridgewater swept all three doubles matches and captured five of the six singles flights.

Juniors Alisha Silva (Taunton, Mass.) and Amanda Strickland (Plymouth, Mass.) posted an 8-4 win at first doubles, while juniors Bojana Roman (Somerset, Mass.) and Alison Scagnelli (Sutton, Mass.) teamed for an 8-1 victory at the second  spot. Sophomore Rachel Tarantino(Mansfield, Mass.) and freshman Angelique Gray (Osterville, Mass.) completed the sweep with an 8-1 decision at number three.

In singles play, Roman, Scagnelli, Strickland, Tarantino and Gray all won in straight sets at the second through sixth flights, respectively.

Junior Kristy Garcia (Miami, Fla.) earned a three-set win at the top singles flight for the lone point of the match for the Beacons.

Bridgewater and Rhode Island College finished in a tie for first place in the final LEC regular season standings and both teams will have a first round bye in next week's tournament. The Bears are the top seed by virtue of their win over the Anchorwomen earlier this season.

UMass will be the sixth seed in the tournament and will travel to UMass Dartmouth on Tuesday afternoon for a quarterfinal round match with the third-seeded Corsairs.