WALTHAM, Mass. - The Simmons College women's tennis team defeated host Division II Bentley University, 6-3, this afternoon in Waltham, Mass. The Sharks improve to 15-3 on the season to match the school record for wins in a season. Simmons won 15 matches following the 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 campaigns as well. The Falcons fall to 7-15 in their season finale.
Simmons swept doubles action to take a 3-0 lead in the match. Junior Katie Crowley (Reading, Mass.) (14-5 singles, 16-4 doubles) and Han DK Le (Tra Vinh, Vietnam/Matignon HS (Mass.)) (14-5 singles, 13-0 doubles) got the first point of the day for the Sharks with an 8-2 decision at number three over the Bentley duo of sophomore Kayla Anghinetti (Seekonk, Mass.) and junior Lexie Hinrichs (Franlin, Mass.) to extend the pair's winning streak to 11 straight matches. Sophomore Theresa Reinhard (Canton, Mass.) (9-10 singles, 12-6 doubles) combined with junior Meg Cokely (Haverhill, Mass.) (16-4 singles, 10-7 doubles) at first doubles to defeat the Falcons' junior Ludmila Yamus (Deer Park, N.Y.) and sophomore Rachel Petrini (Madison, Conn.), 8-4. The Sharks junior pair of Rachel Downey (Groveland, Mass.) (6-10 singles, 14-6 doubles) and Caroline Khoury (Portsmouth, Ohio) (7-6 singles, 11-5 doubles) outlasted Bentley's first year Olivia von Oldenburg (Austin, Texas) and Catherine Gianino (Burlington, Mass.) at number two doubles, 9-7.
Cokely continued her winning momentum into singles play for Simmons, beating Gianino in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, at second singles, before the Falcons put their first point on the board with a win at number one singles from Yamus over Reinhard, 6-3, 6-4. Le won the match's deciding point for the Sharks, downing Anghinetti, 7-5, 6-2 at sixth singles for a 5-1 advantage.
Khoury picked up a victory at fourth singles for Simmons, defeating von Oldenburg, 7-5, 6-2. Bentley took the final two singles matches as Crowley took first year Jill Kamphaus (Walpole, Mass.) to three sets, before succumbing, 6-2, 4-6, 10-4, at number five singles. Downing was also defeated in a hard fought match by Petrini, 7-6, 3-6, 10-1, at number three singles.
The Sharks will be in action again on Friday, April 24 when they travel to Beverly, Mass. to take on Endicott College at 2:30 p.m.