Oct. 6, 2003

The women's tennis team dropped its first match of the season on Saturday, 5-2, to Salve Regina. The Gulls, now 7-1, posted wins at 4th singles, where Tessy Garcia rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 victory, and at 3rd doubles, where Julie Castle and Carli Conners edged their opponents 8-5.

The match began late due to rain and then had to be moved indoors to determine the winner. When Salve clinched the match with its 5th win of the day, a number of close matches were underway. Melissa Marrone was at 4-5 in the first set of her 2nd singles match and Sofia Pagano had just won the second set of her 5th singles match in a tie-breaker, after the dropping the first set, 3-6.

"Winning only one of the doubles matches put us in a hole," said Coach Mark Herlihy. "In singles, there were some bright spots, but not enough to carry us to victory. Tessy Garcia played very well, Blythe Langley had another solid outing at 1st singles despite losing, and Melissa Marrone was in a tight battle against a strong opponent at 2nd singles."

The Gulls face Roger Williams in Bristol, Rhode Island on Wednesday, Oct 8 in their next match.