UM ousted from conference tournament
The Minutewomen were unable to produce a victory at the three to five singles spot. Stanimirovic, Lecluyse and Gimenez all fell to their respective opponents.
Murillo was able to score a crucial victory at the sixth and final singles position. In a match that went three sets, Murillo earned a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over the Musketeers' Alicia Papa.
The 4-3 victory gave the Minutewomen a night to rest before their big match with the No. 1-seeded Temple Owls the following day.
Things started out bright for UMass, as it won the doubles point yet again.
Spiess and Pozar continued their winning ways with an 8-5 victory over the Owls' Yuri Kurashima and Christine Clermont. Stanimirovic and Gimenez were unable to net a victory at the middle spot, but Lecluyse and Murillo came up huge with a 9-7 victory over Anastasiia Rukavyshnykova and Sharanya Pattabi.
Unfortunately for the Minutewomen, the singles play did not treat them so kindly.
The three through six singles positions were the only ones that were finalized, and UMass lost each one of them.
Lecluyse almost won the second set of her match but eventually ended up dropping it 7-5. Besides that, the other matches were not close.
"We came out flat against Temple in the semis," UMass coach Judy Dixon said. "We had used all of our energy the day before."
After the 4-1 loss, UMass found itself looking at a match for rights to third place against Charlotte.
The 49ers proved to be the toughest match of the weekend for the Minutewomen, as evidenced by the 4-0 loss.
Spiess and Pozar were unable to carry the team as they often do, and the rest of the team struggled.
The duo fell to Ana Spivakovsky and Ali Piacente, 8-5, in the doubles play.
Lecluyse and Murillo did not finish their match, as the point was already won by Charlotte after Koren Fleming and Michelle Alexander defeated Stanimirovic and Gimenez, 8-3.
Spiess fell 6-3, 6-3 to Spivakovsky at the No. 1. Stanimirovic was defeated 6-2, 6-1 in the third spot, and Lecluyse dropped her match 6-3, 6-2 at the fourth position.
Pozar was leading 6-2, 4-4 before her match was called. Gimenez and Murillo were also sharing a degree of success, as they were leading their matches 6-3, 0-5 and 6-1, 4-4, respectively.
Coach Dixon thought at least two of these matches could have been won, and was proud of the way her team performed.
"We just lost to a better team in Charlotte," Dixon said. "I'm really proud of the team and our entire season."
With the loss, UMass finished its season in fourth place. It has now finished in the top four in five consecutive seasons.
"We played the entire tournament without Ellen de Jong [the usual third singles player]," Dixon said. "We had no idea we would do this well."
Mike Connors can be reached at mjconnor@student.umass.edu.
(C) 2007 Massachusetts Daily Collegian via U-WIRE
