(CSTV U-WIRE) AMHERST, Mass. -- The Massachusetts tennis team both entered and exited this past weekend's Atlantic 10 Tournament as the No. 4 seed.
After disposing of Saint Joseph's and Xavier on Friday, the Minutewomen
(13-9, 4-3 Atlantic 10) dropped matches to eventual runner-up Temple and third place Charlotte on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Friday morning treated the Minutewomen well, as they defeated the Hawks 5-0.
The team had no trouble gaining the ever important doubles point. Dasa Stanimirovic and Stephanie Gimenez took an 8-0 decision at the second slot, while Maude Lecluyse and Laura Murillo were victors in an 8-2 decision.
Michele Spiess and Masha Pozar were leading 6-4 at the first spot, but many matches this weekend went unfinished due to time constraints for the tournament.
Spiess and Pozar stayed true to form and thoroughly dominated the Hawks' opposition. Spiess defeated Stephania Velazquez, 6-2, in straight sets, and Pozar beat Jen Kedzierski by an identical score.
The two other singles matches that finished came at the four and six positions. Maude Lecluyse shut out Gina DiGiacomo in the first set before closing the door and winning the second set, 6-4. Murillo won her match in impressive fashion as well, by besting Marisa Donelson, 6-2, 6-0.
The victory set up a showdown between UMass and the fifth ranked Xavier Musketeers (16-8) later that day.
UMass continued its success at the doubles point, and it later proved to be the deciding factor in the match.
Similar to the earlier match against St. Joe's, only two of these matches went the distance. Spiess and Pozar took an 8-6 decision over Jackie Vilines and Kara Courtney. Murillo and Lecluyse also teamed up again and scored an 8-6 victory.
Spiess and Pozar each took on an opponent from their doubles match and came out with the same result. Spiess overtook Vilines, 6-2,
6-3, and Pozar defeated Courtney, 6-2, 6-2.
