WINTRHOP Mass. – Simmons College women's tennis player Katie Crowley (Reading, Mass.) was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week, it was announced today by the league.
The honor marks the fourth time this season that a Simmons player has been named the conference's top weekly player. Junior Meg Cokely (Haverhill, Mass.) has garnered the award for the weeks of September 1-7 and September 15-21 and sophomore Theresa Reinhard (Canton, Ohio) earned the accolade for the week of September 8-14.
Crowley was nearly perfect on the week, compiling a combined record of 10-1, including a perfect 5-0 in doubles play. The junior paired with first year Han DK Le (Tra Vinh, Vietnam/Matignon HS (Mass.)) to defeat their Colby College foes, Annie Morris and Olivia Stein, 8-3, in number three doubles. Crowley fell in singles play to Meg Gilbin of Colby, 6-3, 6-4, but it would be her only blemish for the week as she won her next nine matches in a row. The Massachusetts native came back the next day to defeat Sarah Brennan-Athas of Emerson College, 6-1, 6-1, at number two singles. Crowley capped the week by playing eight combined matches in three days at the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament, co-hosted by Smith College and Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. on October 17-19. The tournament had four 16-team brackets and each matchup featured a doubles match and two singles matches with the winner being decided by a best two-out-of-three format.
Crowley's stiffest test in singles play came in the "D" Draw's first round. She was edged in the first set, 7-6, by Michelle Cai of Mount Holyoke, but rebounded to win the next two frames, 6-2, 10-5. Crowley won her remaining singles matches in straight sets. The Reading Memorial High School product downed Ashley Dallaire from Nichols College in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-2, before dispatching of Wheaton College's Kathryn Burleson, 6-0, 6-3, to advance to the finals. Crowley took care of business with a 6-0, 6-2 showing against Babson College's Ashland Stansbury. Crowley teamed with Le for 8-4, 8-4, 8-3, and 8-4 victories over Mount Holyoke, Nichols, Wheaton and Babson, respectively, to earn the draw crown.
The Physical Therapy major has been outstanding all season, owning a combined record of 23-8 (.742), including 11-4 in singles action. She has played primarily at fifth singles and number three doubles for the Sharks.
For her career, Crowley has compiled a 47-25 (.653) combined record, including 28-15 in singles action.
Simmons is currently 11-2 on the season, including a perfect 6-0 in GNAC play. The Sharks finished the conference slate without a loss for the seventh straight season and have won 52 straight regular-season league matches. They will be in action again on Saturday, October 25 as the number one seed in the GNAC tournament. Simmons will take on the winner of the first round match on October 22 between fifth-seeded Anna Maria College and number four seed Saint Joseph's College (Maine) at 2:00 p.m. at the Winchester Indoor Tennis Center in Winchester, Mass.