WESTON, Mass. - The Regis (Mass.) women's tennis team fell 5-4 to Smith College on Tuesday afternoon at Regis Stadium in the team's final home match of the fall season.
With the loss, the Pride falls to 5-3 on the season, while the Pioneers pick up their first win of the season, moving to 1-1.
The Pride took a 2-1 lead into singles play after wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Smith's Talia Natoli (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Allison Ahern (Minneapolis, Minn.) gave the Pioneers and early lead with an 8-0 win over the Pride's Gracie Jarest (Wrentham, Mass.) and Sara Kanarkiewicz (Peabody, Mass.).
The Pride recovered however, as Katasha Jarvis (Mt. Vernon, N.Y.) and Carly Donovan (Harwich, Mass.) defeated Samantha Peikes (West Hartford, Conn.) and Joanna Kim (Chicago, Ill.) 8-4 at No. 1 doubles. Amy DiPace (Cambridge, Mass.) and Carly Scanlon (Canton, Mass.) secured the doubles advantage minutes later, securing an 8-6 win at No. 2 over Smith's Emma Essenmacher (Delran, N.J.) and Kara Van Allen (Kalamazoo, Mich.).
Momentum began to turn towards the Pioneers once singles play began. Essenmacher picked up the first singles win for Smith at No. 5 singles with a 6-1, 6-0 win, but DiPace would quickly get the point back with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 win at the No. 4 position to put the hosts back in front for what would prove to be final time on the evening.
Smith's Natoli and Ahern won at sixth and third singles to push the Pride to the brink following DiPace's victory. At No. 2, Kim secured a 6-2, 6-3 win over Jarvis that gave the visitors their first win of the season.Donovan won 6-1, 6-4 at No. 1 singles to give the Pride the match's final point and close out the 5-4 decision.
The Pride will next be in action on Saturday, when it wraps up GNAC play with a road match against Albertus Magnus at 1:00 p.m. Smith will next be in action when it hosts the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament that kicks off Friday and runs through Sunday.
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