Courtesy LEC
Courtesy LEC

Panthers Edge Vikings in LEC Semifinals

SALEM, MASS. – No. 3 seed Salem State was defeated by No. 2 seed Plymouth State by a score of 5-4 in the semifinals of the Little East Conference Women's Tennis Tournament on Friday afternoon at the RIC Tennis Center in Providence, R.I. The Panthers took four-of-six singles matches to earn a trip to the championship match tomorrow against either top seed Rhode Island College or No. 4 seed UMass Dartmouth.

Anastasia Startseva (Volgograd, Russia) / Caroline Robitaille (South Hadley, Mass.) improved to 6-0 together at the first doubles position with a 9-7 win over Sage Winter (New Castle, N.H.) / Maggie McCarthy (Marion, Mass.). Meredith MacDonald (Lynn, Mass.) / Madeline Allaire (Columbus, Ohio) earned the second point at No. 2 doubles with an 8-4 decision against Irene Kigugu (Concord, N.H.) / Megan Wheeler (Manchester, N.H.). Plymouth State managed to salvage a point in doubles as Jenna Sundquist (Monument Beach, Mass.) / Kerstin Venincasa (Sutton, Mass.) took third doubles with an 8-4 victory.

Startseva and Allaire won their 13th and 11th consecutive matches respectively to give the Vikings their only two points in singles play. Startseva won 6-2, 6-4 over Winter and Allaire beat McCarthy 6-4, 6-2. The Panthers swept third through sixth singles with Wheeler earning the deciding point with a win at sixth singles.

Salem State ends their season at 9-6 while Plymouth State jumps to 12-2.