Simmons Tennis Rolls Past Lions

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Simmons Tennis defeated the Emerson College Lions 6-3 on Saturday on the courts at MIT to remain undefeated in the GNAC. The young Lions showed talent and poise, taking some tough matches from the Sharks, but their effort was unsuccessful. The Sharks moved to 4-3 overall and 3-0 in the GNAC while the Lions are now 2-3 overall and 2-1 in GNAC conference action.

The Sharks drew first blood in doubles action when Sabrina Salmela (Beverly, Mass.) and Andree Sime (Bradenton, Fla.) took an 8-1 win in the number two spot. Emerson’s Savannah Mosser and Lacey Russell stepped up to tie it up though with an intense 8-6 win over Allison Bodek (Lynnfield, Mass.) and Margaret Teague (Manchester, N.H.) in the number one spot. Simmons broke the stalemate to take the lead with another to the wire match in the number three spot, as Alanna Grady and Gina Veramo were unable to close the gap, falling 9-7 to Sharks Nicole Eskenazi (Goleta, Calif.) and Kristi Mielbye (Hanson, Mass.).

Singles proved to bring some more excitement to the court even as Simmons took wins in the three, four and five spots in straight sets. The Lions started to claw back as Russell took to the number two spot against Salmela. The two went the distance in the deciding set with Russell playing with patience and strong baseline work making the difference in a 6-4 win.

In the number one spot, Margaret Teague took to the court to face Savannah Mosser for the second time in the day after the Lions defeated Teague and Bodek in doubles play. Mosser looked to be in control in the first set, taking a 6-3 win. Teague answered in return in the second set to take a scrappy 6-4 win to send it to a ten point tiebreak. Teague took advantage of a misplay by Mosser and rattled off four straight points to take the win.

The Sharks return to action on Tuesday, when they play GNAC rival Emmanuel College at 4:00 p.m. The Lions will return to action on Wednesday as they travel to Endicott for a 4 p.m. match in Beverly, Mass.