Women’s Tennis Secures 8-1 Victory Over Simmons on Senior Day
QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College women's tennis team stormed past Simmons 8-1 Saturday afternoon at the ENC Tennis Courts.
The Lions climb to 9-2 on the year and 5-1 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference with the win, sealing a first-round bye and a spot in the GNAC Tournament semifinals. The Sharks sink to 5-7 overall and 3-3 in league competition with the result.
Prior to the start of the match, the Lions honored the program's two seniors: Sharon Biondi (Barquisimeto, Venezuela) and Veronica Jimenez (Lynn, Mass.).
The hosts swept the three doubles matches to capture a 3-0 advantage.
Magdalena Hubel (Berlin, Germany) and Emily Ruttkowski (Castrop-Rauxel, Germany) edged Marissa Johnson and Nickie Nguyen 8-7 at the top doubles spot.
Biondi and Jimenez cruised to an 8-1 victory at the No. 2 position over Sarah Mariski and Megan McKeever.
Maria Busila (Malaga, Spain) and Makayla Grantham (Apalachian, N.Y.) posted an 8-4 win at the No. 3 slot over Leah Bonis and Carrie St. Peter.
Eastern Nazarene chalked up five victories in singles action to lock up a top-two finish in the GNAC regular-season standings.
Biondi bested Nguyen 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 1 singles position to notch her fifth-straight win.
Ruttkowski edged Johnson in a third-set super-tiebreaker at the second spot to keep her unblemished singles record intact at 11-0. After dropping the first frame 6-3, Ruttkowski responded with a 6-3 victory in the second before clipping Johnson 10-8 in the super-tiebreaker.
Hubel posted a 6-2, 6-2 win over Mariski at the third slot to return to the win-column.
Jimenez prevailed 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot over Bonis to improve to 10-1 on the year in singles competition.
Busila breezed by McKeever in the fifth singles match 6-0, 6-0 to net her sixth singles win in a row.
Grantham dropped a 6-0, 6-1 decision at the No. 6 position to St. Peter.
Up next, Eastern Nazarene hosts Endicott October 9 in the final regular-season home match.