WINCHESTER, Mass. – October 21, 2018 – The Colby-Sawyer women's tennis team defeated Johnson & Wales, 5-0, to win the 2018 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship held at the Winchester Indoor Tennis Center.
Colby-Sawyer, which is in its first season as a GNAC member, improves to 10-2 and earns the conference's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Tournament in the spring. Johnson & Wales goes to 12-5.
The Chargers swept doubles play to take an important 3-0 advantage in the race to five points.
The Colby-Sawyer senior duo of
Maddy Gemerek (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) and
Aislinn O'Connor (New Fairfield, Conn.) put the Chargers in front 1-0 with an 8-2 victory over senior Delany Macchirole (Greenport, N.Y.) and first-year Kourtney Moore (Roswell, Ga.) at No. 2. Seconds later, the Chargers took a 2-0 lead with an 8-4 triumph by senior
Hilary Boucher (Presque Isle, Maine) and junior
Alexa Conlin (Westborough, Mass.) over sophomore Katherine Ledesma (Coral Springs, Fla.) and senior Lauren Torre (New Fairfield, Conn.). In the tightest doubles match of the afternoon, Colby-Sawyer's top tandem of sophomore
Yashu Yang (Kunming City, China) and first-year
Anna Kopituk (Morristown, Tenn.) outlasted first-year Drew Bobey (Charlestown, S.C.) and sophomore Claire Parry (Westport, Conn.), 8-5.
At the top singles flight,
Yashu Yang defeated Claire Parry 6-0 and 6-2 to give Colby-Sawyer a 4-0 lead. Yang was named GNAC Tournament MVP.
Aislinn O'Connor recorded the championship clinching point with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Delaney Macchirole at No. 3. With the win, O'Connor moved into a tie for third in career victories with
Lauren Blanchard '18 with 117 wins.
All-Tournament Team
Regis – Carly Donovan
Eastern Nazarene – Adele Duval
Johnson & Wales – Delaney Macchirole
Johnson & Wales – Claire Parry
Colby-Sawyer –
Hilary Boucher
Colby-Sawyer –
Anna Kopituk
Colby-Sawyer –
Yashu Yang (MVP)
Colby-Sawyer 5, Johnson & Wales 0
10/21/18 at Winchester, MA (Winchester Indoor Tennis Center)
| Singles competition |
| 1. Yashu Yang (CSCW) def. Claire Parry (JWUWT) 6-0, 6-2 |
| 2. Maddy Gemerek (CSCW) vs. Lauren Torre (JWUWT) 1-6, 2-4, unfinished |
| 3. Aislinn O'Connor (CSCW) def. Delaney Macchirole (JWUWT) 6-3, 6-3 |
| 4. Anna Kopituk (CSCW) vs. Kourtney Moore (JWUWT) 6-1, 5-3, unfinished |
| 5. Alexa Conlin (CSCW) vs. Drew Bobey (JWUWT) 6-2, 2-5, unfinished |
| 6. Hilary Boucher (CSCW) vs. Gabriela Velazquez (JWUWT) 6-4, 2-2, unfinished |
| Match Notes |
| Johnson & Wales 12-5 |
| Colby-Sawyer 10-2 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (1,3) |
| T-2:40 A-30 |
