BRIDGEWATER, Mass. - Junior Sarah Cipriano (Watertown, Conn.) earned a doubles point with senior Natalie Paradise (Naugatuck, Conn.) and broke a 4-4 tie to clinch the match with a three-set singles win to lead the Western Connecticut State University Wolves to a 5-4 victory over the Bridgewater State University Bears in the opening round of the Little East Conference (LEC) Women's Tennis Championship Tournament this afternoon.  No; 3-seeded WestConn, which had to trek to Bridgewater on consecutive days when the match was suspended yesterday due to rain, improves to 8-6 and advances to the Little East Championship Semifinals tomorrow at No. 2-seeded Rhode Island College tomorrow at 3 p.m.  The Bears, which had won against the Wolves, 5-4, on September 26, finish the fall at 9-5.

Cipriano/Paradise won, 8-2, at third doubles to leave the score at 2-1 in the Bears' favor entering singles play. Wolves junior Diana Rebelo (Naugatuck, Conn.) tied the score with a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles, but Bridgewater State's Meghan Lotti returned the favor at the No. 5 spot to make it, 3-2.  WestConn took a 4-3 lead thanks to back-to-back victories by juniors Bodhi Kitt (Norwalk, Conn.) and Melanie Grasso (New Fairfield, Conn.) who won in straight sets at the top-two spots on the ladder, repectively, withing seconds of each other.   Grasso avenged a regular season three set loss to Bridgewater State's Mackenzie Silveria. 

Paradise suffered a close loss, her first defeat of the season, at sixth singles, 6-4, 7-5, against Bridgewater State's Samantha Bettencourt to tie the match at 4-apiece.  Cipriano came back from a 7-5 setback in her first set against Allison Carter, but rallied to take the second, 6-1 and took a 5-4 lead in the third set.  She was up, 40-15, and dropped two straight points before closing the match with a low backhand that her opponent couldn't handle.

"Todays match and its result was everything that we have been working for all season and then some," said WestConn Head Coach Shawn Stillman. "Our team knew how intense today's match would be as Bridgewater is a strong team and they rose to that challenge. I'm super proud of them. That was a lot of pressure for Sarah (Cipriano) to be playing for the match and she nailed it."