By Justin McKinney, Sports Editor
Despite a tough loss in the LEC tournament semi-finals match to Bridgewater State, the UMass Dartmouth women’s tennis team had a fantastic season finishing with an overall record of 10-5 and an LEC record of 6-2.
It is worth noting that the women’s tennis team had the best overall winning percentage out of any UMass Dartmouth fall sport as they won a whopping 67 percent of their matches.
This year’s team was headed by a core group of very talented seniors, including Molina Oung. Oung had a fantastic 2017 campaign as she was undefeated until her last singles match of the season, going 11-1 and posted an overall 22-2 record in her last 24 matches dating back to her junior year.
Senior Kerry Magoon had a fantastic season in doubles as she posted an overall doubles record of 7-3 with all of her respective partners combined. Along with that Magoon posted a 5-9 singles record this season.
The Corsairs were also complimented this year with the efforts of senior Mollie McCaffrey who had a 7-7 singles record this year and managed a triumphant overall doubles record of 10-5. Fellow senior Jillian Reichert also had a great doubles season going 9-5 for the Corsairs.
Finally, senior Samantha Rollins has dominated in singles going 7-5, with a solid overall doubles record of 5-3 on the year.
While this Corsair team was certainly led by seniors, enough cannot be said about the efforts of junior Jenna Lahaie.
This fall Lahaie captured her third straight LEC First Team singles honor, Lahaie has yet to not make that team since her freshmen year at UMass Dartmouth. Lahaie also led the team with wins as she won twelve singles matches while only losing three. Lahaie also went 9-5 overall in doubles for the Corsairs this fall.
Lahaie and her partner, sophomore Jaime Fastino were also awarded LEC Second Team honors for doubles. While only a sophomore Fastino proved that she certainly belonged as she was practically unbeatable this season. Fastino recorded eleven wins this past fall while losing just three times.
Her doubles record of 7-5 was also impressive and as stated she did earn a spot on the LEC Second team for her efforts. While this season did not end with an LEC banner as the team hoped, that certainly does not mean they did not have a successful year. For the fourth year of the last five the women of UMass Dartmouth tennis have captured a 10-win season. With Lahaie’s third straight LEC all-star nod Coach Doug Chapman believes she is a legitimate shot for the Corsair Hall of Fame and while Oung lost her final match of the year she did post an undefeated regular season.
The women of Corsair tennis has grinded this season out and worked extremely hard to earn their respective accolades. These seniors should be proud to end their careers on such a high note and relieved to leave the team in the very capable hand of talented underclassmen such as Lahaie and Fastino.