SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Simmons College women's tennis team's six-match win streak came to an end this afternoon in a 7-2 loss to host Springfield College at the Springfield Fieldhouse in Springfield, Mass. The Pride improve to 5-11 on the season, while the Sharks fall to 10-6.
Springfield took an early 3-0 lead after sweeping doubles play. The most spirited match of doubles action came at number one, where each side was knotted at eight games apiece, before the Pride's pair of junior Rachel London (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) and first year Melissa Parrish (Framingham, Mass.) won the tie-breaker, 8-6, to take the match in pro-set form by a score of 9-8 over the Simmons duo of junior Theresa Reinhard (Canton, Ohio) (9-4 singles, 15-5 doubles) and senior Meg Cokely (Haverhill, Mass.) (12-2 singles, 15-5 doubles).
The Sharks' pair rebounded in singles play, earning Simmons' only two points of the dual match to end Springfield's string of seven straight points.
The Pride took a 4-0 lead in the match when first year Emily Etter (Guilford, Conn.) downed Simmons senior Katie Crowley (Reading, Mass.) (8-5 singles, 9-6 doubles), 6-1, 6-2, at number three singles. Springfield clinched the victory with a 6-1, 6-1 win a sixth singles. Junior Nicole Piazza (Portland, Conn.) defeated Sharks' first year Laura Plaza (Mexico City, Mexico) (1-3 singles) for the match's fifth point. Simmons first year Ashley Chen (Hilo, Hawaii) (8-6 singles, 8-10 doubles) dropped the first set at number five singles to Pride junior Stephanie Foster (Woodbridge, Conn.), 6-2, before stepping it up in the second frame, but fell short, 6-4. Springfield took a 7-0 advantage when Parrish defeated senior Rachael Downey (Groveland, Mass.) (8-6 singles, 13-6 doubles) at fourth singles, 6-2, 6-1.
Cokely dropped just three games, while putting the Sharks on the board with her eighth straight singles victory. She cruised past Pride sophomore Rachel Litchfield (Northbridge, Mass.), 6-1, 6-2. Reinhard followed suit with a her fifth consecutive triumph at first singles in a thrilling three-set win. London took the first set, 7-5, before Reinhard bounced back with a 6-4 win in the second frame. Reinhard won the deciding set, 9-7, in a tie-breaker.
Etter and senior Ariana Shemms (Goshen, Conn.) handed Downey and Crowley an 8-4 losing decision to end the Simmons pair's six-match win streak to begin the match. The Pride's win at number three doubles came courtesy of Litchfield and Foster teaming for an 8-3 victory over Chen and sophomore Mary Matthews (Wakefield, R.I.) (1-3 singles, 8-10 doubles).
The Sharks return to action on Saturday, April 16 when they travel to Waltham, Mass. to play Division II Bentley University for a 10:00 a.m. contest. Springfield plays again on April 10 when it heads to Newport, R.I. to take on Salve Regina University for a 1:00 p.m. match.