NEWPORT, R.I. - Salve Regina University women's tennis snapped a three-match losing skid with an 8-1 victory over visiting Regis College in The Commonwealth Coast Conference contest in Newport.
 
Traveling with only five players, the Pride forfeited two match points to the Seahawks before the first serve was struck.
 
"Even with a 2-0 lead, we still prepared ourselves for a great battle and that is what we got," said Seahawk head coach Ed Habershaw.
 
Junior Valerie Leso [West Warwick, R.I.] and sophomore Nichol Stevens [Chester, Conn.] wrapped up the third match point with an 8-0 victory at second doubles. The duo had climbed out of love-40 and 15-30 holes on its serve consistently throughout the match.
 
Junior Erin Phillips [Morristown, N.J.] and senior captain Jessica Timpano [Narragansett, R.I.] grabbed an 8-2 decision at the first doubles position to raise their TCCC season record to 4-1 in that spot. Meanwhile, freshman Erin Henriksen [East Hampton, Conn.] cruised to a straight-set win at fifth singles and clinched the team score for Salve Regina (2-4; 2-3 TCCC).
 
"That allowed our remaining singles players to perform without thinking about the team outcome," added Habershaw.
 
Stevens, Timpano, and Leso combined for three match points while only dropping a total of four games in six sets. All other matches were concluded while Phillips was battling the reigning TCCC Player of the Year, Megan McCarthy [Norfolk, Mass.], on the first singles court in the first set.
 
McCarthy took the first set, 6-1, and jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second. But Phillips steadied herself with a service hold at love (her first held-serve of the entire match) that included two service winners and two forehand winners. She then earned a break and held serve again with a pair of aces on break point opportunities to knot the set at 4-all.
 
"Erin showed great composure on the court and that allowed her to battle and play a high level of tennis," said Habershaw. "She remarked afterwards that Megan is the best player in the conference. I agreed, but also expressed pride in Erin's ability to compete. She made tremendous progress with her game today."
 
McCarthy held serve in the ninth game and then broke Phillips on her second chance in the 10th game to give Regis (0-7; 0-6 TCCC) its only match point.
 
Salve Regina will host Gordon College on Saturday at 1 p.m. while Regis next plays at Eastern Nazarene on Friday at 3:30 p.m.