Salem State Reaches Little East Women's Tennis Semifinals

SALEM, Mass. – Salem State advanced to the conference semi-finals for the fourth straight year with a 5-0 shutout of the Worcester State Lancers in first round action at the 2012 Little East Conference Tournament.

The third-seeded Lady Vikings (7-4) will now travel to Dartmouth, Mass. to face No. 2 seed UMass-Dartmouth on Thursday at 3:00 PM. Worcester State ends their season with a 6-8 record.

Salem State rolled through doubles play, sweeping all three matches to help the team jump out to an early lead.

Captain Michelle McEwen (Billerica, Mass.) and Maddy Ward (Somerville, Mass.), and Jessica Spinale (Saugus, Mass.) and Anna Yaskell (Stockholm, Sweden) each recorded easy victories at first and second doubles. McEwen and Ward teamed up to defeat Danielle Candelieri (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Megan Shepard (Middletown, Conn.), 8-2 at first doubles while Spinale and Yaskell blanked Taylor Tomasetti (Waterford, Conn.) and Cassandra Goncalves (Ludlow, Mass.), 8-0. Lauren Woods (Burlington, Mass.) and Tara Garvey (Palma, Mass.) completed the sweep with an 8-3 win at third doubles for the Lady Vikings.

McEwen and Ward each won in straight sets at first and second singles to clinch the victory for Salem State. McEwen defeated Candelieri, 6-1, 6-1 and Ward beat Tomasetti, 6-0, 6-0.

Salem State will be seeking their second straight trip to the conference finals.