BOSTON, Mass. – The Simmons University women's tennis team was defeated by visiting Johnson & Wales University, 9-0, this afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference play on Daly Courts in Brighton, Mass. The Sharks fall to 2-5 overall, including 1-2 in league play, while the Wildcats improve to a perfect 6-0 and 3-0. 

Johnson & Wales did not drop a set and saw four players record a pair of wins on the day.

First year Leah Bonis (Bath, Maine) led Simmons by winning seven games in singles action at the number three spot. Following a 6-1 loss in the opening set to JWU sophomore Kourtney Moore (Roswell, Ga.), she rebounded to knot the second set at 6-6, before falling 7-6 (3).

Junior Claire Parry (Westport, Conn.) led the way for Johnson & Wales, dropping just one game between singles and doubles play. She teamed with sophomore Drew Bobey (Charleston, S.C.) to record an 8-1 victory at number one doubles over the Simmons duo of senior Nickie Nguyen (Ho Chi Minh, Vietman/St. Joseph Prep (Mass.)) and Bonis. Parry won at first singles for JWU with a 6-0, 6-0 effort over Nguyen. 

Bobey also picked up a win in singles action for the visitors, taking down Sharks sophomore Megan McKeever (Stamford, Conn.) in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, to give Johnson & Wales the dual match's deciding fifth point at fourth singles. 

First year Emily Hill (Wilmington, Mass.) teamed with sophomore Kourtney Moore (Roswell, Ga.) to deliver an 8-2 triumph at second doubles for the Wildcats over McKeever and sophomore Sarah Mariski (Portland, Maine). Hill followed with a win at second singles, downing Mariski, 6-1, 6-2. 

JWU junior Katherine Ledesma (Coral Springs, Fla.) combined with first year Sydney Constantinidi (North Branford, Conn.) to take an 8-1 effort over Simmons junior Carrie St. Peter (Chester, N.H.) and sophomore Kaili Shorey (Vassalboro, Maine) at number three doubles. 

Senior Gabriela Velazquez (La Romana, D.R.) put together a 6-1, 6-1 win for Johnson & Wales over first year Shark Libby Weed (Brooksville, Maine) at fifth singles, while senior Katie Mason (Grafton, Mass.) rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 win at sixth singles over Simmons first year Mary Miller (Newton, N.H.). 

The Sharks return to the courts when they head to Worcester, Mass. on Saturday, September 21 to face Clark University at 1:00 p.m., while the Wildcats return to action on September 21 when they host GNAC opponent Eastern Nazarene College on Centre Court in Riverside, R.I. at 4:00 p.m.