PLYMOUTH, N.H. –Plymouth State College will serve as host for the Fourth Annual Little East Conference Women’s Tennis Championships this weekend (Oct. 18-19) at the P.E. Center Courts.
The tournament will include six conference schools that sponsor women’s tennis – UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth, Rhode Island College, Southern Maine, Western Connecticut and PSC. Action begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday and again at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday.
The Panthers, who hosted the first LEC Women’s Tennis Tournament in 1994, are hoping for a large home-court advantage. It’s Homecoming on the PSC campus, and the fan base is expected to be the biggest of the season, especially with two PSC soccer games and a football game going on adjacent to the tennis courts.
Rhode Island College won the first two LEC championships in 1994 an 1995, and UMass Dartmouth captured last season’s title. Plymouth State has finished runner-up the past two seasons.
“We’re going to give it a run at the title,” said PSC second-year head coach Robin Payne. “We’re fairly strong in doubles, and we have solid depth in the bottom half of the singles line-up. We’re hoping that playing on our own courts will help put us over the top.”
There will be nine separate brackets in the tournament, just like a dual match – six singles and three doubles. Individual champions will be crowned in all nine brackets, as well as a team title. Southern Maine’s Suzanne deGolian is the returning champion at No. 1 singles, and UMass Dartmouth’s Amy Kennedy and Emily Traubel captured last year’s title at No. 1 doubles.
Plymouth State, which finished 5-6 in dual matches, will be led by senior captain Kate Loeber (Cranston, RI) and freshman Lauren Kruse (Pitman, NJ), who hold down the top two singles spots. Junior Sarah Schutzendorf (Fayetteville, NY), who plays at No. 3 singles, led PSC with a 6-5 record in dual matches, and sophomore Jen Lemire (Manchester, NH) was 4-4, mostly at No. 4 singles.
PSC’s most consistent doubles tandem was Lemire and senior captain Kris Roberge (Berlin, NH), who were 4-4 at No. 2 doubles.
Overcast. Temperature: 45; Wind: W at 12; Conditions as of Sat May 25 at 03:00 PM EDT