QU Women's Tennis Advances to MAAC Finals with 4-0 win over Niagara

Saturday, April 28

Mercer County Tennis Center, New Jersey

2:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Niagara University (Semifinals)

QU Women's Tennis Advances to MAAC Finals with 4-0 win over Niagara

4/28/2018 4:41:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: QU Athletic Communications

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. — The top-seeded Quinnipiac women's tennis team faced a tough challenge from fourth-seeded Niagara, but earned the doubles point and captured three straight-set singles wins to take a 4-0 win Saturday and move on to the MAAC Championship match for the fifth year in a row.

With the win, the Bobcats improve to 14-7 on the year and 7-0 against MAAC opponents (6-0 in the regular season, 1-0 in the postseason). Quinnipiac has still never lost a match to a MAAC opponent since joining the league in 2013-14, extending its win streak to 46 (37-0 regular season, 9-0 postseason).

Niagara took the doubles point in the regular season and threatened to do so again. Sophomore Layla Rodriguez and junior Alexandra Mircea had a quick win at No. 3 doubles (6-1), but Niagara took a win at No. 2 and pushed the match at No. 1 past regulation. Junior Jennifer Lu and freshman Payton Bradley, though, came up with a big break to take a 7-5 win and give the Bobcats a hard-fought doubles point.

Singles proved to be a tough battle as well, as the Purple Eagles took the first set at No. 1 and No. 3, and added a second-set win at No. 5 to earn a split and force a third set. However, the Bobcats had three of their singles players in top form to get three straight-set wins and end the match relatively quickly.

Freshman Courtney Nash was the first to get a win in the books at No. 6 to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead, winning 6-3, 6-1. Lu, who was the Most Outstanding Player at last year's championships with a 4-0 record, moved to 6-0 in the last two years with a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 2 to bring the Bobcats within one point of the victory. Rodriguez was able to provide that winning point by joining Lu with a singles/doubles sweep on the afternoon, earning a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 4 to finish off the 4-0 win.

The Bobcats will face either Siena or Marist on Sunday in the finals, the teams they have beaten to win the last two MAAC Championships. A year ago, Quinnipiac took a close 4-2 win over Siena and came from behind two years ago to knock off Marist 4-3. In the regular season this year, the Bobcats took a 6-1 win at Siena and a 7-0 home win over Marist.