MIDDLEBURY, Conn. - Senior
Natalie Paradise (Naugatuck, Conn.) notched a singles win in her final home match and the Western Connecticut State University women's tennis squad rallied to edge visiting Little East Conference opponent UMass Dartmouth, 5-4, at the Middlebury Racquet Club on Saturday afternoon. The match was moved to Middlebury due to the soggy outdoor conditions.
The Wolves got off to a sluggish start, dropping all three doubles matches. However, the majority of the games went to deuce but the hosts could not convert the games into wins. But the Wolves would roar back in singles play.
Needing to win five-of-six singles courts,
Sarah Cipriano (Watertown, Conn.) and
Sophie Charbonneau (Oakville, Conn.) got WestConn on the board early with convincing wins from the No. 3 and 5 slots, respectively.
The celebrated one, Paradise, then sealed her win at No. 6 singles to even the total score at 3-3.
Junior
Bodhi Kitt (Norwalk, Conn.) got off to slow start, trailing early 3-0 in the first set. But Kitt battled back and forced a tiebreaker. After being down 2-5 in the tiebreaker, she won six of the next eight points in dramatic fashion, Kitt won the first set and then went on to blank her opponent in the second set, winning and giving WestConn a 4-3 lead.
In the meantime, junior
Diana Rebelo (Naugatuck, Conn.) was forced to a third set tiebreaker in the fourth slot, while classmate
Melanie Grasso (New Fairfield, Conn.) battled to a second set tiebreaker after losing the first set in the No. 2 spot. As the intensity was at its highest, each court could have gone either way until Rebelo valiantly pulled out a third set tiebreaker win, 7-5, clinching the overall victory for WestConn.
"Todays match was no doubt the highlight of our season thus far. We got beat up in doubles pretty badly but instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, our team turned it around in a big way. Our confidence is building and we're demonstrating it on the court. I'm so proud of them," said Wolves head coach Shawn Stillman following play.
With the win, WestConn improved to 7-4 overall and 4-2 in LEC play, while the Corsairs fell to 5-6 and 2-4. The Wolves return to the court for another league tilt when they travel to Rhode Island College on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
