BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Franciscan women's tennis wrapped a perfect season and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference tournament as the Lady Barons swept D'Youville and Medaille, Sunday afternoon.
For the first time in program history, the Lady Barons not only finished 8-0 in conference action, but they won every individual match and went 72-0 against AMCC opponents.
Franciscan has a successful final day of conference action as the Lady Barons turned in a pair of 9-0 sweeps of D'Youville and Medaille.
In their opening match of the day against D'Youville, Franciscan did not drop a game in doubles as every doubles pair won their match, 8-0. Junior Maria Binette and sophomore Grace Hammel carried their momentum into singles play as they posted 6-0, 6-0 sweeps at No. 2 singles and No. 3 singles, respectively.
Sophomore Madelyn Conrad and junior Julia Razook had strong matches at No. 1 and No 4 singles as each of them picked up a 6-1, 6-0 win against the Spartans. Senior Emmy Mathias won handily at No. 5 singles 6-0, 6-2 while fellow senior Marisa Pinto took the No. 6 singles match 6-2, 6-0.
Later that afternoon, the Lady Barons completed the day with a 9-0 sweep of Medaille. Franciscan once again open the match with strong play at doubles as all three doubles courts finished 8-1 in favor of FUS.
Binette once again turned in a clean sheet at No. 2 singles with a 6-0, 6-0 win and Razook followed suit with a 6-0, 6-0 win of her own at No. 4 singles. Hammel and junior Taranee Karimpour won each of their singles matches 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3 and No. 5, respectively while Conrad turned in a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles.
Mathias finished off her final conference match of her career with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles to help the Lady Barons to the sweep.
Franciscan has earned the top seed in the AMCC tournament and will receive a first-round bye. The semifinal and championship round of the tournament is slated to begin on October 21 at the Westwood Racquet Club in Erie, PA. Franciscan will play the winner of the #4 Medaille vs. #5 La Roche matchup held on October 14. A full championship tournament preview will be made available the week of the tournament.
In preparation for the championship and the quest for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the Lady Barons will host Grove City on October 6 in a rescheduled match from the beginning of the season.
