Posted: Sep 27, 2014

Salve Regina women's tennis def. Wentworth, 8-1

Hayley Maxwell and Emma Gruber (right) won a 9-7 decision at first doubles to complete a doubles sweep for the Seahawks; Gruber added a straight-set win at first singles during an 8-1 victory for Salve Regina women's tennis. (Photo by Ed Habershaw)

Team Stats

Wentworth

Salve Regina

Score

Doubles

Emma Gruber / Hayley Maxwell (SRU)
def. Caitlyn Briggs / Nicole McColgan (WIT)

9-7

Elizabeth DiFilippo / Meg Olson (SRU)
def. Laura Boyd / Nicole Mooney (WIT)

8-3

Taylor Amendola / Courtney Bailey (SRU)
def. Emily Jodoin / Stephanie Nguyen (WIT)

8-5

Singles

Emma Gruber (SRU)
def. Nicole McColgan (WIT)

6-1, 6-4

Elizabeth DiFilippo (SRU)
def. Caitlyn Briggs (WIT)

6-1, 6-2

Taylor Amendola (SRU)
def. Emily Jodoin (WIT)

6-4, 6-1

Courtney Bailey (SRU)
def. Laura Boyd (WIT)

6-2, 6-1

Nicole Mooney (WIT)
def. Isabelle Weatherby (SRU)

6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 1-0 (10-7)

Julie Grant (SRU)
def. Stephanie Nguyen (WIT)

7-5, 6-0

NEWPORT, R.I. - Salve Regina University women's tennis completed a winning month with its second straight victory, an 8-1 final against visiting Wentworth Institute of Technology, in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Newport.

"The players came to play," said Salve Regina head coach Cory Tusler. "We certainly enjoyed the terrific weather (78 degrees) and played aggressively in doubles."

The Seahawks (4-2; 4-2 CCC) finish September with an unblemished mark at home with wins over Eastern Nazarene (15 days ago) and the Leopards (3-9; 2-5 CCC). The match also marked a homecoming for Wentworth head coach Erin Phillips who is in her second year guiding the Leopards after starring for the Salve Regina women's tennis team for three seasons (2008-11).

Salve Regina swept the doubles action starting with senior pair Elizabeth DiFilippo (West Chester, Pa.) and Meg Olson (Colchester, Vt.) scoring an 8-3 decision at second doubles over Laura Boyd (Woodstock, Vt.) and Nicole Mooney (Waterford, Conn.). Sophomore Taylor Amendola (Westbrook, Conn.) and freshman Courtney Bailey (No. Dartmouth, Mass.) won their second straight CCC doubles match with an 8-5 score at third doubles over Emily Jodoin (Burrillville, R.I.) and Stephanie Nguyen (Medford, Mass.).

The Seahawks, who have won all 23 meetings with Wentworth since the series began in 1988, had three-game leads at first doubles (4-1 and 6-3) before Wentworth's Caitlyn Briggs (Lee, Mass.) and Nicole McColgan (Tewksbury, Mass.) rallied for a 7-6 edge. Salve Regina senior Hayley Maxwell (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) recovered from a shaky service game to knot the score at 7-all, before the Seahawks broke serve and then held on sophomore Emma Gruber's (New Canaan, Conn.) for the 9-7 final score.

Salve Regina players won the first set in all six singles matches. Bailey completed her match at fourth singles for a 4-0 Salve Regina lead and DiFilippo followed with the clinching point with her straight-set win at second singles. Amendola increased the lead to 6-0 when she won 6-4,6-1 at third singles - her second straight win at that position. Trailing 2-4 in the first set, Amendola served up back-to-back aces in the seventh game and then rode the momentum for eight straight games.

Gruber won her second straight match at first singles while junior Julie Grant (Warwick, R.I.) played her first singles match of the season and won 7-5,6-0 at sixth spot.

Wentworth finished the day by spoiling the shutout as Mooney split the first two sets with junior Isabelle Weatherby (Newport, R.I.), and then won a third-set tiebreak 10-7 at fifth singles.

The Leopards finish their regular season next Saturday when they travel to Springfield, Mass., to face the Golden Bears of Western New England University. Salve Regina still has the top two CCC teams on its schedule (Endicott - Wed., Oct. 1; Nichols - Sat., Oct. 4) in the fall, plus a pair of non-league matches after the conference playoffs.