By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- For the third year in a row, the Bridgewater State University women's tennis team is the No. 3 seed in the Little East Conference tournament.
The Bears will host the sixth-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at the Dr. Henry Rosen Memorial Courts in the quarterfinal round.
BSU (9-3) finished in third place with a 6-2 record behind two-time defending champion the University of Massachusetts Boston and Rhode Island College, which have byes into the semifinal round.
UMass Dartmouth (8-7) finished in a three-way tie for fourth place at 4-4 with Plymouth State and Salem State but fell to the sixth seed via the tiebreakers.
The Bears defeated the Corsairs, 9-0, when they met in the regular season on Oct. 4.
A year ago, BSU was upset by sixth-seeded Western Connecticut State University, 5-4, in the quarterfinal round after advancing to the semifinal round in 2022.
That loss at home to Western Connecticut State will have the Bears on guard this week.
"We feel good," said BSU coach David Purpura. "We're not going to take anyone for granted. Obviously, we feel like we can make a deep run in the playoffs, but we thought that last year and a pretty veteran Western Conn. team showed up in the first round of the postseason and beat us.
"That was sort of an abrupt ending to our postseason last year. We have a lot of returners who are not happy with the way things ended. We're definitely going to be geared up and focused for the first round for UMass Dartmouth.
"We're definitely not going to look past them. They have some good players at some key positions and we're going to have play good tennis to get by them."
The Bears have experience in the top three singles positions with senior Madeline Von Ruden (Ashley Falls, Mass.) going 8-3 and 6-2 in the conference at No. 1; graduate student Mackenzie Silveira (Middletown, R.I.) posting a 6-4 overall record and 5-2 in the Little East at No. 2; and senior Meghan Lotti (Stoneham, Mass.) entering the postseason with a 7-4 record, including 5-2 in the conference at No. 3.
"They've been awesome," said Purpura. "Maddie has played every single match of her college career at the No. 1 spot. Mackenzie had a bounce-back year and had only two conference losses. She stepped up and owned the No. 2 spot. Meghan jumped from five to three this season and has been rock solid all year. Having those three has given confidence to the freshman."
The BSU lineup includes a pair of freshmen playing singles.
Aislyn Kelliher (Plymouth, Mass.) has gone 11-1, including 8-0 in the Little East while playing mostly at No. 4. Sarah Pothier (Rochester, Mass.) is 8-2 and 6-1 in the conference at No. 5.
Sophomore Samantha Bettencourt (Tiverton, R.I.) has gone 8-2 and 6-1 in the Little East as the No. 6 player.
The doubles teams have been successful with No. 2 Kelliher and Morgan Smith (Taunton, Mass.) forming a freshman duo that is 8-1 and went 6-1 in the conference.
The No. 1 team of Von Ruden and Silveira is 8-2 and went 5-2 in the Little East while Bettencourt and Lotti are 7-4 and 6-2 in the conference.
Having first-year players Kelliher, Pothier and Smith make immediate contributions has been a key for BSU.
"The freshmen have been lights out," said Purpura. "We feel really great about our future but also competitive enough and close enough that we can make some noise this year.
We feel like we have a really good group. They're jelling at the right time and we're optimistic, so we'll see."
There are three other freshman on the roster -- Ava Alves (Taunton, Mass.), Grace Binegar (Tiverton, R.I.) and Fiona Clancy (Norton, Mass.) -- to go with Kelliher, Pothier and Smith.
The mixture of the top three singles players who have been together and the talented newcomers makes for a solid team.
"I want to be in competition to win the Little East every year, and that's not always going to be a reality," said Purpura, "but this year, we have six freshmen who have been wonderful. We're deep right now. We have six freshmen we feel good about. They've gotten better every day.
"We feel like we're hitting our stride at a good time and now it's how far our veterans and leaders can take us."
The BSU-UMass Dartmouth winner travels to No. 2 Rhode Island College on Thursday afternoon in the semifinal round. Top-seeded UMass Boston will host either Plymouth State or Salem State in the other semifinal matchup with the championship to be decided on Saturday.
This marks the sixth time that the Bears and Corsairs have met in the Little East tournament with UMass Dartmouth holding a 3-2 edge since the first meeting in 2008.
Bridgewater State lost to UMass Dartmouth in the championship round in 2008, 5-3, and 2015, 5-4, and in the quarterfinal round in 2018, 5-1.
The Bears defeated the Corsairs in the quarterfinal round in 2017, 5-0, and the semifinal round in 2011, 5-1.