BRISTOL, R.I. - While the weather was quite different, the matchup and results were pretty much the same. Third-seeded Roger Williams University women's tennis will be moving on to the Commonwealth Coast Conference semifinals after defeating the sixth-seeded Salve Regina University 5-0 Tuesday afternoon in the CCC quarterfinals.
The win gave the Hawks their second win over the Seahawks in four days after beating the visitors from Newport 9-0 on Saturday in the regular-season finale. Roger Williams improves to 9-3 and will face the second-seed and defending conference champion Endicott College next Wednesday at 2 p.m.
"The better team won today, but we showed improvement in each of our matches," said Seahawk head coach Ed Habershaw. "I know our players may not realize it, but this group is among the most talented I've coached, and I've coached 10 conference championship teams on the women's side."
Salve Regina owns 13 league titles since the league originated women's tennis championships in 1989, 10 more than any other single school.
"The biggest difference is the conference has gotten stronger as a whole, which is a good thing," said Habershaw. "It may have taken the advent of the automatic bid (in 2006) for the sport, but our league has been more competitive from top to bottom. I've seen the level of play progress over each of the last 20 years."
"Each of our unfinished matches today - Kasey (Walther) at No. 1, Filly (Elizabeth DiFilippo) at No. 4, Shannon (O'Brien) at No. 5, and Erica (Shay) at No. 6 - had shown remarkable improvement not only in the score but also in the competitiveness of the match."
Salve Regina and UMass Dartmouth postponed the non-league match for this Thursday until next week (TBA). The Seahawks will participate in the New England Women's Invitational Tennis Tournament (NEWITT) this weekend before finishing the Fall campaign with the Corsairs.
Tennis Match Results
Salve Regina vs Roger Williams
10/09/12 at Bristol, R.I.
(RWU Tennis Courts)
Roger Williams 5, Salve Regina 0
Singles competition
1. Tracy Klein (RWU) vs. Kasey Walther (SRU) 6-3, 1-0, unfinished
2. Samantha Curran (RWU) def. Ana Gwozdz (SRU) 6-0, 6-1
3. Lauren Schmidt (RWU) def. Elizabeth Liguori (SRU) 6-0, 6-1
4. Hillary Dutton (RWU) vs. Elizabeth DiFilippo (SRU) 6-5, unfinished
5. Alexandra Brown (RWU) vs. Shannon O'Brien (SRU) 6-0, 2-2, unfinished
6. Adriana Maconochie (RWU) vs. Erica Shay (SRU) 5-5, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. Samantha Curran/Tracy Klein (RWU) def. Ana Gwozdz/Elizabeth Liguori (SRU) 8-2
2. Hillary Dutton/Adriana Maconochie (RWU) def. Shannon O'Brien/Kasey Walther (SRU) 8-1
3. Alexandra Brown/Lauren Schmidt (RWU) def. Elizabeth DiFilippo/Erica Shay (SRU) 8-1
Match Notes:
Salve Regina 4-7
Roger Williams 9-3
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (2,3)
The Commonwealth Coast Conference Quarterfinals
#3 Roger Williams vs. #6 Salve Regina
Roger Williams advances to CCC Semifinals
Official: T. Fayed T-1:49 A-40
