Simmons Tennis Blanks Albertus Magnus, 9-0, to Lock Down First Place

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Simmons College women's tennis team surrendered just three games the entire day in a 9-0 victory over visiting Albertus Magnus College this afternoon in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference match in Cambridge, Mass. on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Sharks have won five of their last six matches and improve to 6-5 overall and a perfect 5-0 in league play to clinch the number one seed in the GNAC Championship Tournament.

Simmons extends its consecutive regular-season conference match win streak to 57 straight with the win. The Falcons fall to 6-4 and 1-3.

Simmons did not drop a game in doubles play as all three spots won by scores of 8-0 in pro-set form. The Sharks got on the board with a win a number three doubles. The Simmons sophomore combo of Winnie Yee (South San Francisco, Mass.) (1-1 singles, 2-0 doubles) and Lilli Blumkin (Del Mar, Calif.) (1-1 singles, 1-0 doubles) downed the Albertus Magnus sophomore team of Shamain McAllister (Irvingon, N.J) and Chelcie Roan (Bridgeport, Conn.). The Sharks' senior tandem of Katie Crowley (Reading, Mass.) (5-4 singles, 5-5 doubles) and Rachael Downey (Groveland, Mass.) (5-5 singles, 4-6 doubles) defeated the Albertus Magnus duo of junior Zaida Velazco (Dominican Republic) and first year Alicia Weaver (Bethel, Conn.) at first doubles. Simmons picked up its third point following number two doubles, courtesy of a win from sophomore Mary Matthews (Wakefield, R.I.) (0-3 singles, 4-4 doubles) and first year Ashley Chen (Hilo, Hawaii) (6-5 singles, 6-5 singles) over the Albertus Magnus first year pair of Izzy Sabino (Cheshire, Conn.) and Kiana Vega.

Cokely gave the Sharks a 4-0 lead with a 6-0, 6-0 showing at number two singles over Weaver, before Blumkin clinched the dual match for Simmons with a 6-0, 6-0 victory at sixth singles over Roan. Chen, junior Ashley Pierce (Carver, Mass.) (5-3 singles, 2-2 doubles) and Downey all followed suit with 6-0, 6-0 wins of their own at fourth, fifth and third singles, respectively. Not only did Chen not lose a game, but she did not drop a point in her match with McAllister, winning all 48 points. Pierce triumphed over Vega and Downey defeated Sabino to give the Sharks their eighth point of the day. Reinhard won in straight sets over Velazco, 6-2, 6-1 to close out the day for Simmons.

The Sharks return to action when they close out their regular-season conference slate at Mount Ida College in Newton, Mass. on October 12 at 1:00 p.m., while the Falcons host Suffolk University on the same day at 1:00 p.m.