CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Lesley University women's tennis team posted a key New England Collegiate Conference victory over Bay Path University tonight, defeating the Wildcats 6-3 at the Nicholas Athletics Center. The win improves the Lynx to 3-11 overall and 3-5 in the conference, putting the hosts right in the thick of the NECC Tournament race. The loss drops the Wildcats, also firmly in the playoff hunt, to 4-8 on the season and 4-5 in conference matches.
Lesley's top doubles tandem of Caroline Kiddie (Scituate, Mass.) and Theresa Pereira (Hopedale, Mass.) opened the match with an 8-3 win over Brittany Walsh and Taylor Wood before Frances De Leon (Murrieta, Calif.) and Diana Watson (Acton, Mass.) followed with an 8-1 triumph in the second doubles match.
Bay Path earned their first win and avoided the doubles sweep as Kimberly Drahushuk and Yismel Rosario posted an 8-5 win over the Lynx duo of Courtney Goggin (Cheshire, Conn.) and Hannah Levensailor (Ayer, Mass.).
Kiddie continued her positive momentum as she turned in her fourth straight win at No. 1 singles with a 6-0, 6-0 defeat of Brittany Walsh. Pereira posted a 6-2, 6-2 victory in the second flight while Goggin outlasted Katrina Mannion 5-7, 7-6, 6-1 in a hard fought win at No. 6. After dropping the first set, Watson stormed back to take the next two and top Katie Leibowitz 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 in a marathon fourth match.
Bay Path earned singles victories as Wood downed De Leon 6-4, 6-4 at No. 2 before Brittany Schafer used scores of 6-0, 7-5 to take triumph in the fifth flight over Rose Heller (State College, Pa.).
The Lynx will continue their stretch of five matches in six days tomorrow at 11:00a as they continue NECC play against Newbury College. The match will be played on the campus of Regis College.