PLYMOUTH, N.H. -- The Bridgewater State University women's tennis team opened Little East Conference (LEC) play with a tough 5-4 setback to Plymouth State University on Saturday afternoon at the Holderness School Courts.
The host Panthers (1-0, 1-0 LEC) captured two of the three doubles matches while the two teams split the six singles flights. The Bears fall to 0-2 (0-1 LEC) with the setback.
BSU freshman Sailor Nordstrom (New Bedford, Mass.) picked up her first collegiate wins in both singles and double play. Nordstrom and senior Emma Mills (Westport, Mass.) gave the Bears their lone doubles point with an 8-4 victory at number one. Nordstrom also won the battle of the top flight singles players as she earned a 7-5 decision in the first set before her opponent was forced to retire.
Mills also posted a 6-1, 6-1 straight set triumph at third singles, while grad student Rachel Tarantino (Mansfield, Mass.) notched a 6-4, 6-3 decision at number six to round out the scoring for the Bears.
Plymouth State received tightly contested doubles victories from freshmen Kira Winter (Eliot, Maine) and Megan Marshall (Dartmouth, Mass.) at the second flight (8-6), and junior Jenna Sundquist (Monument Beach, Mass.) and freshman Hanna Street (New Castle, N.H.) at number three (8-7). The third flight match went to a tie-breaker with the Panthers winning the breaker, 7-0.
Mills, Nordstrom and Tarantino completed their singles matches to give the Bears a 4-2 lead. The Panthers, however, picked up straight set wins from Marshall at number four (6-2, 6-4) and junior Kerstin Venincase (Sutton, Mass.) at the fifth flight to knot the score at 4-4.
Junior Maggie McCarthy (Marion, Mass.) then clinched the victory for Plymouth State with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 decision at the second flight.
In upcoming action, the Bears travel to Johnson & Wales University on Tuesday afternoon for a 3:30 match with the Wildcats.