By Jim Fenton

BOSTON, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's tennis team opened the final week of the regular-season with a road loss.

The Bears' three-match winning streak was halted by UMass Boston, 6-3, at the BC High Tennis Courts on Tuesday afternoon.

The first-place Beacons (9-2, 6-0

in the Little East Conference) have won four of their last five meetings against BSU (7-3, 5-2 Little East).The Bears own a 16-4 record in the series with UMass Boston.

The Beacons have won back-to-back regular-season and conference tournament championships. Their last regular-season conference loss was on Oct. 16, 2021 to Rhode Island College.

BSU won three of the six singles matches but lost all three doubles matches.

Winning for the Bears were freshman Aislyn Kelliher (Plymouth, Mass.), freshman Sarah Pothier (Rochester, Mass.) and sophomore Samantha Bettencourt (Tiverton, R.I.).

Kelliher won over sophomore Sandra Watson (West Palm Beach, Fla.), 6-0, 6-1, at No. 3 singles. Pothier was a 6-1, 6-4 winner at No. 4 singles over freshman Tatiana Malone (Dennis, Mass.) and Bettencourt earned the victory over junior Shreya Saravana Rakshana (India) at No. 6 singles. Bettencourt won the first set, 6-2, before her opponent retired due to injury.

Kelliher is now 9-1 in singles play on the season including a perfect 7-0 mark against conference opponents.

UMass Boston graduate student Lydia Chan (Quincy, Mass.), who moved up to No. 1 singles, battled back from a set down to earn a tough 4-6, 7-5, 11-9 triumph over senior Madeline Von Ruden (Ashley Falls, Mass.).

At No. 2 singles, Beacons senior Ayonna Stuppard (Randolph, Mass.)  defeated graduate student Mackenzie Silveira (Middletown, R.I.), 6-0, 6-0, and senior Elena Albano (Haverhill, Mass.) gave UMass Boston a win at No. 3 singles over senior Meghan Lotti (Stoneham, Mass.), 6-1, 6-0.

The No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Zainab Patel (Ahmedabad, India) and Chan won for UMass Boston over Von Ruden and Silveira, 8-3, while Stuppard and Albano topped BSU's Kelliher and freshman Morgan Smith (Taunton, Mass.), 8-2.

At No. 3 doubles, Malone and Watson defeated Lotti and Bettencourt, 8-5.

BSU finishes the regular season by playing Thursday afternoon at home against Curry College, then travels to Vermont State Castleton Saturday afternoon. The Bears will likely be the No. 3 seed in next week's Little East tournament.

UMass Boston is at Salem State on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The Beacons can secure the top seed in next week's Little East Tournament with a win over the Vikings.