Simmons Women's Tennis Falls to No. 14 Mary Washington, 5-0, in NCAA Tournament First Round

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Courtesy of Simmons Athletics Communications

AMHERST, Mass. – The Simmons College women's tennis team was defeated by No. 14 University of Mary Washington, 5-0, this morning in the First Round of the NCAA Championship Tournament on the Amherst Tennis Courts at host Amherst College in Amherst, Mass. The Sharks finish their season with a 10-9 record, while the Eagles win their fourth straight match to improve to 20-4 on the year. Mary Washington advances to play No. 8 Wesleyan University tomorrow in Amherst at 11:00 a.m.

The Eagles swept doubles action, taking the first point of the dual match at number two doubles. Senior Mackenzie Smith (Landisville, Pa.) combined with junior Taylor Diffley (Southampton, N.Y.) to down the Simmons senior duo of Katie Crowley (Reading, Mass.) (8-7 singles, 9-9 doubles) andRachael Downey (Groveland, Mass.) (8-8 singles, 13-11 doubles), 8-0, in pro-set form. Sophomore Caroline Mosberg (Glen Allen, Pa.) and first year Sara Fioretti (Finksburg, Md.) came up winners at third doubles for Mary Washington with an 8-1 decision over first yearAshley Chen (Hilo, Hawaii) (8-9 singles, 10-15 doubles) and sophomore Mary Matthews(Wakefield, R.I.) (1-3 singles, 8-13 doubles). Simmons number one doubles tandem of juniorTheresa Reinhard (Canton, Ohio) (10-5 singles, 17-6 doubles) and senior Meg Cokely(Haverhill, Mass.) (13-3 singles, 17-6 doubles) was beaten by the Eagles NCAA Doubles Championship bound pair of senior Shelby Harris (Newport News, Va.) and sophomore Kait Brogan (Virginia Beach, Va.), 8-0. 

Mary Washington took a 4-0 match lead when Senior Chrissy Gaul (Newtown, Pa.) defeated junior Ashley Pierce (Carver, Mass.) (6-8 singles, 3-2 doubles), 6-0, 6-1. Smith gave the Eagles the decisive fifth point when she came away with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Chen. The remaining four singles matches were all suspended and will not be made up by virtue of the fifth and deciding point being recorded. 

Cokely finishes her career as the all-time leader at Simmons in combined, singles and doubles victories. She owns a 113-55 (.673) career combined record, including 57-21 (.731) in singles action and 56-34 (.622) in doubles play. Downey ends her tenure ranked fourth all-time for the Sharks with 83 combined victories with an 83-67 (.553) record and is tied for second with 52 doubles wins (52-32, .619), while placing ninth with 31 singles win. Crowley completes her collegiate playing career with a 74-46 (.617) combined record to rank seventh in combined wins and fourth in singles triumphs with a 41-24 (.631) record. She also stands ninth in doubles wins with a 33-22 (.600) record. Reinhard is currently eighth on the career list for combined wins at Simmons with a record of 72-53 (.576). She also ranks fifth in doubles victories with a 41-24 (.631) tally and is tied for ninth with Downey with 31 singles victories.