RADNOR, Pa. – The Cabrini women's tennis team returns to the Colonial States Athletic Conference postseason tournament on Friday and will face the Marywood University Pacers in the semifinal round at Legacy Tennis Center in Philadelphia, Pa. The match is set to begin at approximately 12:30 p.m.
After opening the season with nine consecutive conference victories, the Cavaliers fell to 12-5 overall and 9-1 in the league with Friday's 6-3 loss to Gwynedd Mercy. The victory secured the tournament's top seed for the Griffins, while the Blue and White fell to the number two seed.
While Cabrini and third seed Marywood (10-1, 9-1 CSAC) meet in Friday's second semifinal, Gwynedd Mercy (10-4, 9-1 CSAC) and fourth seed Immaculata (11-6, 7-3 CSAC) will open the day's action at 9 a.m.
The winners of Friday's matches will advance to Saturday afternoon's championship match. Saturday's victor will also earn the CSAC's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
Dating back to 2005, Cabrini has won nine of their previous 14 matches against Marywood, with five of those coming in the CSAC Tournament semifinal round. Though the Cavaliers fell to the Pacers 5-1 in last year's conference semifinals, the Blue and White had won its previous four playoff meetings.
The two teams last met was on September 13th, when Cabrini scored a 7-2 win. The Blue and White jumped out early, winning two of the three doubles matches. Senior
Samantha Trumbo joined sophomore
Elena Conway to earn an 8-2 number two doubles win, while freshman
Maggie Javitt teamed with junior
Nicole Broccolino with a clutch 8-4 victory in their number three doubles match.
The success for the Cavaliers carried over to the singles matches, taking five of six matches in singles play. Trumbo won her number two singles match 6-2, 6-4. After dropping the first set 6-2, junior
Tori Yeich rebounded to take the second and third sets 6-3, 6-4 in the number three singles flight.
Broccolino also went three sets, narrowly dropping the second set before rallying for a 10-8 third set win at number four singles. Conway captured a 6-4, 6-4 victory at number five singles, while Javitt was able to ice the Pacers with a 6-2, 6-3 straight set victory at number six singles.
Senior Megan Nastelli won her number one singles match 6-2, 6-2 and paired with junior Kristen Lambert to earn an 8-4 number one doubles victory for the Pacers.
Cabrini will look to get it going early in doubles play, where Yeich and and fellow junior
Terra McHenry have earned a 10-4 record on the season and 9-1 record in the conference in their number one doubles matches. Conway and Trumbo finished with a 10-6 record on the season and are 8-1 in the conference as a number two doubles pair.
Conway has been the Cavaliers most reliable player in singles conference play as she leads the team with an outstanding 9-0 conference record. Yeich has also proven to be a tough matchup in conference play as she finished the season with a 9-1 conference record.
Marywood is coming into Friday's action red hot. The Pacers have won their last nine matches with their only loss of the season coming at the hands of the Cavaliers.
Marywood will look to Lambert and Nastelli in doubles play, as the duo boasts a 9-1 conference record as a doubles pair. The doubles pair of junior Devon Underwood and freshman Natalie Burke has combined for a 7-2 record in the CSAC.
Nastelli and Underwood have been strong all season long in singles action for the Pacers. Both sport matching 9-1 conference records, while sophomore Rebecca Lukasak finished the regular season with a 8-1 conference record.
