Women's Tennis Dispatches Plymouth State, 5-4, On Senior Day

Worcester, MA ---   Senior Brooke Michanczyk (Middletown, CT) notched the clinching point at fourth singles as she helped pace Worcester State to a 5-4 victory over Plymouth State in Little East Conference women's tennis action this afternoon at the Corash Tennis Courts.

With the win the Lancers improve to 7-5 overall (4-3 LEC) while the Panthers dip to 6-4 and even out to 3-3 in league play.

The Blue and Gold started off the match with the 2-1 margin after doubles play.

Michanczyk and classmate Laura Sarkis (W. Springfield, MA) helped WSU get things going when they teamed up for the 8-2 win at third doubles before freshman Shelby Jankins (W. Brookfield, MA) paired with sophomore Megan Shepard (Middletown, CT) for the 8-3 victory as the top doubles seed.

Freshman Rachel Gustafson (Belchertown, MA) and senior Jane Duggan (Saunderstown, RI) won their matchup for Plymouth State in an 8-6 decision over junior classmates Danielle Candelieri (Chelmsford, MA) and Taylor Tomasetti (Waterford, CT).

The win for Shepard and Jankins marked the first setback of the season for PSU's top doubles team of sophomore Nitsa Ioannides (El Cajon, CA) and freshman Nikki Lund (Hingham, MA).

In singles action Worcester State took three of the six matchups to earn the eventual victory.

Jankins earned the triumph at second singles followed by Sarkis at sixth singles before Michanczyk dispatched of Gustafson, 6-1 and 6-3 for the match ending point.

In solo play, sophomore Nitsa Ioannides (El Cajon, CA) was victorious at first singles for the Panthers while freshman Nikki Lund (Hingham, MA) added the 6-3 and 7-5 straight set wins at third singles.

Plymouth State junior Rosalie DiRado (Gansevoort, NY) was the winner in a tie-breaker over sophomore Cassandra Goncalves (Ludlow, MA) at fifth singles by scores of 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 (10-4).

Sarkis improved her mark at sixth singles to 8-1 on the campaign as she also moved into tenth in WSU's all-time scoring list with 37 points to her credit. She passed Dawn Waterman (1990-91, 93-94) to move into the top 10.

Sarkis and Michanczyk were also honored in a brief pregame ceremony on "Senior Day" for playing in one of their final home games of the campaign.

Worcester State hosts Johnson and Wales in their final home game of the season at 3:30 on Tuesday at Wachusett High School while the Panthers take on unbeaten Bridgewater State on Monday at 2 PM.

You can follow the Worcester State Lancers on Facebook and Twitter