Results
MONROEVILLE, Pa. – The University of Scranton
women's tennis team posted its first NCAA Division III
Tournament victory in program history on Friday morning, defeating
LaRoche College, 5-0, in a first-round match at The Club 4 Life and
hosted by Carnegie Mellon University.
The Royals (10-7) advance to Saturday's second round,
where they will face Johns Hopkins at 9 a.m.
Scranton got out to a fast start against LaRoche (10-6) by
sweeping all three doubles matches. Sophomore Megan Azzalina (Easton, Pa./Notre Dame) and
senior Lindsay Ward (Bensalem, Pa./Archbishop Wood)
got things started with an 8-1 win at No. 3 doubles.
Junior Stephanie Boccuzzi (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks
East) and sophomore Nicole Mahaffey (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity)
followed with an 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles, and junior Devon Cohen (Ambler, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham)
teamed with freshman Emily
Walsh (Scranton, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) to finish
the sweep with an 8-3 win at No. 2.
Cohen then swept her way to a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles to
put Scranton up, 4-0, and Walsh clinched the victory with a 6-0,
6-1 victory at No. 4 singles. Boccuzzi had a one-set lead at No. 1
singles, as did Azzalina at No. 3, when the match ended. The fifth
and sixth singles matches had yet to start.
Boccuzzi, Cohen, Azzalina and Mahaffey each posted their second
doubles victories in NCAA play. Each posted a doubles win in last
year's 5-4 loss in the first round to Ithaca, which was the
Royals' first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The second-round matchup will be the first-ever meeting between
Scranton and Johns Hopkins. The Blue Jays are 18-2 and ranked
seventh in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national
rankings, and received a first-round
bye.
--ROYALS--
