CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The No. 31 TCNJ women's tennis team kept its streak of NCAA first-round dominance alive and well with a 4-1 sweep of No. 70 Nichols at MIT on Friday afternoon.
The Lions picked up an NCAA opening-round victory for the 19
th consecutive season to earn a shot at the 9
th-ranked and host Engineers; their second-round showdown is set for 12 p.m. Saturday.
The win was also a milestone of another sort. Now sporting a sparkling record of 20-1, the Lions reached 20 dual victories in a season for the third time in program history and the first since the 1985-86 squad went 24-1 on its way to the only NCAA team championship in program history.
Eleni Dakos and
Gabrielle Brideau needed just 20 minutes to post a 6-0 shutout at number two doubles, and
Elizabeth Ring and
Gabriella Robinson were off the court moments later with a matching bagel at number three to clinch the doubles point.
Zoey Albert and
Shruti Mannan were in the midst of a battle on the top court, leading 4-3 over Kamora Helton and Pamela Gonzalez Vallardi when Ring and Robinson put an end to doubles play. The Lions' top tandem had rallied from a quick 2-0 deficit to claim four of the ensuing five games.
Singles play was much more of a battle, but the Lions had enough firepower to fend off the CNE champions.
Robinson won by double-bagel (6-0, 6-0) at number five, and Dakos expanded the TCNJ lead to 3-0 with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Helton on the top court. Dakos ran off the first nine games of the match, only for Helton to claim the next four and lead 5-4 before the TCNJ grad transfer closed her out with three straight games.
That left the Lions needing one more win, but the Bison were up a set on three of the remaining four courts and got on the board with a victory in the third flight.
That's when Ring, who provided the clinching point in the NJAC championship, did the close out honors once again with a gritty 7-5, 6-3 defeat of Cassie Rice at number six.
When the match ended, Albert was on the cusp of a major comeback. The junior dropped the first set, 6-2, to Charis Vogler in the second flight, but rebounded by taking the second frame, 6-2, and was a game away from victory with a 5-2 lead in the decisive third set.
Mannan was trailing 4-6, 4-4 at number four.
NOTES
- Friday's match marked the first-ever meeting between the programs
- Nichols was making its second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament
- Robinson moved into a tie for 16th all-time in combined wins (111)
- Dakos' 45 combined wins are tied for 3rd-most in a single-season in the modern era (since 1992), as are her 23 singles wins
- Albert (43), Robinson (42), and Ring (42) are all over 40 wins on the season, and Ring and Robinson's 23 doubles wins are just two off the program record
UP NEXT
- The Lions take on host MIT on Saturday
