By Jim Fenton

CASTLETON, Vt. -- The Bridgewater State University women's tennis team finished the regular season  with a road victory Saturday afternoon.

The Bears defeated Vermont State Castleton, 9-0, at the Castleton Tennis Courts to improve to 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the Little East Conference.

Third-seeded BSU will host a conference tournament quarterfinal round match on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. against sixth-seeded UMass Dartmouth.

This marks the third straight season that the Bears are the No. 3 seed. The winner of Tuesday's match plays in the semifinal round on Thursday at second-seeded Rhode Island College.

Madeline Von Ruden (Sr., Ashley Falls, Mass.), Mackenzie Silveira (Gr., Middletown, R.I.), Meghan Lotti (Sr., Stoneham, Mass.), Aislyn Kelliher (Fr., Plymouth, Mass.), Samantha Bettencourt (So., Tiverton, R.I.) and Morgan Smith (Fr., Taunton, Mass.) were singles winners in straight sets for the Bears.

The teams of Von Ruden-Silveira, Smith-Kelliher and Lotti-Bettencourt prevailed in doubles as BSU won by shutout for the fifth time in the last six matches and eighth time this season.

Von Ruden defeated Stella Forte, 6-3 and 6-2, at No. 1 singles while Silveira was a 6-0, 6-0 winner over Madelyn Nonni at No. 2 singles.

Lotti took No. 3 singles over Ginny Trevisan, 6-2, 6-3, and Kelliher won at No. 4 singles, 6-0, 6-0, over Sophia Hussak.

At No. 5 singles, Bettencourt was a 6-4, 7-5 winner over Devon Kibbey and Smith took a 6-0, 6-0 decision from Pearl Bellomo at No. 6 singles.

Kelliher is now 11-1 on the season in singles play and a perfect 8-0 against Little East opponents while Bettencourt checks in at 8-2 (6-1 LEC) and Von Ruden is 8-3 (6-2 LEC).

Von Ruden and Silveira scored an 8-1 win over Nonni and Trevisan at No. 1 doubles while Smith and Kelliher won, 8-2, at No. 2 doubles over Forte and Olivia Rutkowski.

Lotti and Bettencourt defeated Hussak and Kibbey, 8-0, at No. 3 doubles.

The pairing of Kelliher and Smith finished the regular season with and 8-1 record including a 6-1 mark in the Little East. The top tandem of Von Ruden and Silveira finished 8-2 (5-2 LEC) in the regular season.

BSU is 6-0 against the Spartans since the series began in 2018.

Vermont State Castleton is 4-9 with three straight losses and finished 1-7 in the Little East.