WINTHROP, Mass. – Simmons College women's tennis player Rachael Downey (Groveland, Mass.) was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week, it was announced today by the league.
Downey becomes the third Simmons player to earn the weekly award and it's the fourth occasion that a Shark has been selected. Senior Meg Cokely (Haverhill, Mass.) was tabbed for the week of October 5-11, while junior Theresa Reinhard (Canton, Ohio) was chosen for the weeks of August 31 to September 6 and September 14-20.
Downey went 5-1 for the week, all in doubles play. The senior paired up with senior Alana Peters (Killingworth, Ill.) to win the West Bracket of the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament hosted by Smith College in Northampton, Mass. from October 16-18. The duo dropped their first match of the tournament to Trinity College's Vanja Babunski and Melita Ferjanic, 8-3, before winning five consecutive matches to win the bracket crown. Downey and Peters registered 8-5 victories in succession over Brandeis University's Hannah Marion and Danielle Simms and Wheaton College's duo of Connor O'Keefe and Francisca Secor. The mixed team of Downey and Peters earned two more wins with an 8-4 triumph over Mount Holyoke College's Alexa Colas and Ishita Tibrewal and an 8-5 win over another Mount Holyoke duo of Amy Chen and Madison Rosen to advance to the bracket final. Downey and Peters registered an 8-3 victory over the pair of Sofia Aisiks and Adrienne Irmer from Amherst College to earn the crown.
Downey improved her doubles record to 10-7 for the season to go with a 5-5 mark in singles play for a combined record of 15-12 for Simmons. The Pentucket Regional High School product has played primarily at fourth singles and number two doubles for the season.
Downey owns a combined career record of 77-60, including 49-28 (.636) in doubles play. She currently ranks third all-time at Simmons in lifetime doubles victories, while standing fourth on the school's career combined wins list. Her 28 singles victories place her ninth in school annals. The Psychology major was named a GNAC All-Conference Second Team selection for singles play as a first year and a sophomore and has been chosen for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Team three times.
The Sharks are currently 7-5 on the season, including a perfect 6-0 in league play to post an unbeaten conference record for the eighth straight season. Simmons has won 58 consecutive regular-season league matches and earned the top seed for the upcoming GNAC Championship Tournament. The Sharks, who earned a first round bye, will take on the winner of fourth-seeded Albertus Magnus College and number five seed University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) on Saturday, October 24 at 2:00 p.m. at the Winchester Tennis Center in Winchester, Mass.