Royals Knock Off Gophers, Earn Back-to-Back Titles
TOWSON, Md. — Goucher was one win away from the first conference title in the sport of women's tennis since the school joined the NCAA when it took to the courts this afternoon for the finals of the 2013 Landmark Conference Championship. Standing in the Gophers' way was Scranton, the only conference opponent that managed to defeat head coach Sally Baum's netters during the regular season.
Goucher's Only Point in Singles Comes from Lin at No. 1
TOWSON, Md. — Goucher was one win away from the first conference title in the sport of women's tennis since the school joined the NCAA when it took to the courts this afternoon for the finals of the 2013 Landmark Conference Championship. Standing in the Gophers' way was Scranton, the only conference opponent that managed to defeat head coach Sally Baum's netters during the regular season.
The top-seeded Gophers came out of doubles play with a 2-1 lead, but they were able to pick up only one point during the singles competition as the Royals emerged with a 5-3 victory to repeat as Landmark champions.
It's the third consecutive year in which the No. 1 seed failed to win the Landmark title.
The No. 2 doubles match was the first to be completed and Goucher picked up that point thanks to an 8-3 win by Alex Walsh (Greens Farm, Conn./Staples) and Addie Maxwell (Southwest Harbor, Maine/Mount Desert Island) over Devon Cohen and Emily Walsh. Ariel Lin (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) and Meaghan Lee (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill) were next to finish and their 8-2 triumph over Stephanie Boccuzzi and Nicole Mahaffey at No. 1 put the Gophers (12-5) up 2-0.
The Royals (9-7), who pinned a 6-3 setback on the Gophers back on April 21, salvaged one point out of doubles when Megan Azzalina and Lindsay Ward registered an 8-5 win over Kelsey Turner (Philadelphia, Pa./Germantown Friends) and Emily Ruff (Easton, Md./Easton) at No. 3.
Lin met up with Boccuzzi again at No. 1 singles and prevailed 6-2, 6-1, extending her winning streak in singles matches to 11. Unfortunately, the point the sophomore earned that left the Gophers needing to come out on top in only two of the remaining five singles matches turned out to be the team's final one.
Scranton's comeback started with a 6-0, 6-1 win by Lisa-Marie Lanciotti over Kirsten Cianci (Bolton, Conn./Bolton) at No. 6 and continued with Emily Walsh topping Maxwell 6-4, 6-0 at No. 4. The Royals eventually clinched the match when Mahaffey defeated Ruff 7-5, 6-1 at No. 5.
This was Goucher's second appearance in the championship match. In 2009, the Gophers bowed in the finals to top-seeded Moravian, 8-1.