BOSTON, Mass. – October 16, 2019 - The fifth-seeded Colby-Sawyer College women's tennis team fell at fourth-seeded Simmons University, 5-2, in Wednesday's Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament opening round.

Simmons improves to 8-7 and will play top-seed Johnson & Wales on Saturday. Colby-Sawyer ends its season at 3-9. 
 
The Sharks began the afternoon by taking an important 2-1 lead after doubles and then went on to win at the fourth, fifth and sixth singles flights. 
 
Simmons junior Carrie St. Peter (Chester, N.H.) won the opening set at sixth singles, 6-2, over Colby-Sawyer first-year Hannah Nasser (Middletown, R.I.), but found herself trailing 4-2 in the second frame, before rallying to win the final four games to win the set, 6-4, and give the Sharks the deciding point and a 5-2 victory. St. Peter improves to a perfect 4-0 in singles play.
 
St. Peter combined with first year Leah Bonis (Bath, Maine), earlier in the match to earn an 8-1 victory at number three doubles over Nasser and junior Margaret Fox (New Orleans, La.) to knot the dual match at 1-1. The sophomore tandem of Sarah Mariski (Portland, Maine) and Megan McKeever (Stamford, Conn.) put together an 8-5 triumph at second doubles over the Chargers sophomore pairing of Amira Eid (Pelham, N.H.) and Juliet Henderson (Swanzey, N.H.) to give Simmons a 2-1 edge heading into singles play.
 
Mariski and McKeever both joined St. Peter as double-winners with victories in singles action as well. Mariski dropped just two games in a 6-1, 6-1 win at fourth singles for the Sharks over Henderson, while McKeever matched the effort with a 6-1, 6-1 victory of her own at number five singles over Fox to give Simmons a 4-2 lead in the match.
 
Junior Yashu Yang (Kunming City, China) led Colby-Sawyer, winning both points on the day with wins at number one doubles and first singles. She combined with senior Alexa Conlin (Westborough, Mass.) for an 8-1 showing over the Sharks senior duo of Nickie Nguyen (Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam) and Marissa Johnson (Norton, Mass.) to gain the first point of the match. Yang was nearly flawless in singles play, surrendering just one game in a 6-1, 6-0 win over Nguyen to knot the match at 2-2.

Conlin was leading her second singles match late in the second set, while Eid was in a second set tie-breaker after winning her first set at the third flight. 

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Portions courtesy of Simmons