WINCHESTER, Mass. – The top-seeded Simmons College women's tennis team defeated second-seeded Johnson & Wales University, 7-2, this afternoon to win the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship this afternoon at the Winchester Indoor Lawn Tennis Center in Winchester, Mass. The Sharks win their seventh straight GNAC crown and their 10^th in the last 11 years and their 10^th match in a row to improve to 13-2 on the season. The victory also gives them an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in May of 2015.  The Wildcats fall to 12-2 to finish their season.   

Junior Katie Crowley (Reading, Mass.) (13-4 singles, 14-4 doubles) defeated Johnson & Wales sophomore Emily Glass (Sterling, Conn.), 6-3, 6-1 to give Simmons the match's fifth point to clinch the GNAC title for the Sharks. Crowley finished with a combined 4-0 record to earn Tournament Most Valuable Player honors. 

Simmons held a 2-1 lead after doubles play. Junior tandem Rachael Downey (Groveland, Mass.) (6-7 singles, 11-6 doubles) and Caroline Khoury (Portsmouth, Ohio) (6-4 singles, 8-5 doubles) combined to blank the Wildcats pair of Glass and junior Gabrielle Longo (Philadelphia, Pa.), 8-0, at number two doubles to put the Sharks on the board. Simmons bumped its lead to 2-0 following an 8-6 win at third doubles by Crowley and first year Han DK Le (Tra Vinh, Vietnam/Matignon HS (Mass.)) (12-4 singles, 11-0 singles) over junior Stephanie Piperis (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) and first year Taylor Klein (Johnson, N.Y.). 

Johnson & Wales cut the deficit in half with a win at first doubles. The Wildcats duo of junior Samantha Jo Borr (Westfield, N.J.) and sophomore Morgan Thompson (Fargo, N.D.) broke the Sharks' serve a number of times and held on to defeat junior Meg Cokely (Haverhill, Mass.) (14-3 singles, 8-6 doubles) and sophomore Theresa Reinhard (Canton, Ohio) (8-8 singles, 10-5 doubles), 9-7. Cokely, Reinhard and Borr were all named to the All-Tournament team following the match. 

Sophomore Cathy Baker (Simsbury, Conn.) (6-0 singles, 6-1 doubles) cruised at fifth singles over Longo, 6-2, 6-0, to begin a run of five straight singles wins for Simmons and increase the top seed's lead to 3-1. Le pushed the Sharks advantage to 4-1 with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Klein at number six singles, before Crowley's deciding singles match triumph. 

Reinhard dropped the first set to Borr, 6-2, but rallied to win the second set, 7-6 with a 7-1 decision in the tie-breaker, before winning the third set in a super tie-breaker, 10-2, to give Simmons a 6-1 cushion. Cokely followed her doubles partner's lead with a straight set, 6-3, 6-4, win over Thompson to make it 7-1 in favor of the Sharks. Piperis closed out the dual match with a 6-4, 6-3, 10-6 victory over Downey at third singles to pull Johnson and Wales to 7-2. Piperis was also selected to the All-Tournament team for the Wildcats. 

The Sharks will be off until the Spring when they continue their season with a dual match on Saturday, April 11 in Waltham, Mass., taking on Brandeis University at 1:00 p.m.