Lancers Drop Tennis Match to UMass Dartmouth, 8-1

DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The UMass Dartmouth Corsairs downed the Worcester State Lancers 8-1 in Little East Conference (LEC) play Tuesday afternoon, as freshman Lauren Taylor (Attleboro, Mass.) earned the Lancers' sole point on a 6-4, 6-0 singles win.

"Lauren's game was on today and had a great win at No. 2 singles," commented head coach Courteney Blais.

The Corsairs' sophomore Jenna Lahaie (Lakeville, Mass.) and senior Jillian Reichert (Marion, Mass.) won for the first time since being paired at No.  1 doubles, wrapping up a comfortable 8-4 win over Lancer duo Shelby Jankins (West Brookfield, Mass.) and Rachel Green (Worcester, Mass.). The Corsairs' No. 2 and No. 3 doubles held 5-2 and 6-3 leads, respectively, before both pulling out 9-8 (7-4 tiebreaker) wins.

"The score today does not reflect how close and exciting the matches were this afternoon," stated Blais. "No. 2 and 3 doubles rallied to tie things up, but just couldn't finish on top."

In singles, UMass Dartmouth freshman Jaime Fastino (Rehoboth, Mass.) was a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Alexis Silk (Greenfield, Mass.), who came into the match with a 7-1 record at the third flight. Fastino was 4-1 at No. 4 before stepping into the No. 3 slot, where she evened her record at 2-2 on Tuesday.

Junior Samantha Rollings (Tiverton, R.I.) won her first match of the season at No. 4 singles, prevailing with a hard-fought 6-1, 3-6, 11-9 three-set win over Lancer Nathalie Khafaga (Auburn, Mass.) Classmate Molina Oung (Bourne, Mass.) improved to 7-1 in singles on the season, despite dropping the first set 6-0. She eventually would rally back to win, taking the final two sets 6-4 and 10-2 over Green.

"Both Nathalie and Rachel worked very hard in their singles match to get a third tiebreaker, but unfortunately, couldn't close out," commented Blais.

Reichert notched her first singles victory on the season with a 6-3, 6-0 at the sixth flight, claiming the match-clinching victory over Isabel Badeau (Cumberland, R.I.).

The Lancers (5-4, 3-2 LEC) have a busy week of play as they play three back-to-back matches against Bridgewater State, Western Connecticut, and Rhode Island College Thursday-Saturday.

Singles

1. Jenna Lahaie (UMD) def. Shelby Jankins (WOR) 6-2, 6-2
2. Lauren Taylor (WOR) def. Mollie McCaffrey (UMD) 6-4, 6-0
3. Jamie Fastino (UMD) def. Alexis Silk (WOR) 6-2, 6-2
4. Samantha Rollings (UMD) def. Nathalie Khafaga (WOR) 6-1, 3-6, 11-9
5. Molina Oung (UMD) def. Rachel Green (WOR) 0-6, 6-4, 10-2
6. Jillian Reichert (UMD) def. Isabel Badeau (WOR) 6-3, 6-0

Doubles

1. Jenna Lahia/Jillian Reichert (UMD) def. Shelby Jankins/Rachel Green (WOR) 8-4
2. Mollie McCaffrey/Jamie Fastino (UMD) def. Lauren Taylor/Nathalie Khafaga (WOR) 9-8 (7-4)
3. Kehlya Orival/Samantha Rollings (UMD) def. Alexis Silk/Isabel Badeau 9-8 (7-4)

Order of finish: Doubles (1, 2, 3); Singles (1, 2, 6, 3, 4, 5)

Portions of this Release Courtesy of UMass Dartmouth Sports Information