BOX SCORE
When and Where: September 28, 2016 – No. Andover, Mass. (North Andover High School)
Score: Southern New Hampshire University 6, Merrimack College 3
Records: SNHU 7-2 (6-2 NE-10), Merrimack 7-2 (7-2 NE-10)
Graduate student Abla Chadli (Rabat, Morocco) handed three-time defending Northeast-10 Player of the Year Grace Messina the first singles loss of her career in NE-10 play to lead the Southern New Hampshire University women's tennis team to a 6-3 victory against Merrimack College on Wednesday afternoon at North Andover High School.
Messina entered the day 44-0 all-time in Northeast-10 play in singles action and 65-12, overall, before running into Chadli, who posted a convincing 6-1, 6-3 win against the senior from Venezuela.
Junior Lindsay Baum (N. Salem, N.Y.) and Rachel Wagner (Framingham, Mass.) salvaged doubles for the Penmen, continuing their winning ways with an 8-6 win against Lauren Persson and Mia Briggs at No. 3.
Invigorated by Chadli's triumph over Messina, the Penmen rolled to four other singles victories as sophomore Sofia Morais (Porto, Portugal) notched a 6-0, 6-0 win against Mana Seifaei at No. 2 singles to put SNHU up, 3-2.
Merrimack tied it as Persson pulled out a 3-6, 6-2, 11-9 victory against sophomore Anna Sala (Matadepera, Spain), but sophomore Kaitlyn Poje (E. Stroudsburg, Pa.) and Wagner recorded 6-4, 6-2 wins at No. 4 singles against Danielle Dunn and No. 5 singles against Mackenzie Blair, respectively, with Baum adding a 6-2, 6-0 W at No. 6 against Briggs.
Notes:
- Chadli improves to a perfect 9-0 at No. 1 singles this year, while Baum and Wagner are now 9-0 in doubles play.
- Baum has won 17 of 18 Northeast-10 singles matches dating back to last season.
Up Next:
The Penmen return to action Sept. 30-Oct. 3 at the ITA East Regional, hosted by the New York Institute of Technology. The next home match for the Penmen is Wednesday, Oct. 5 (3 p.m.) when they play host to Bentley University.
For the latest on Southern New Hampshire University athletics, follow the Penmen via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram. Sign up to receive text message alerts and e-mail newsletters about your favorite Penmen teams here.
