BOX SCORE

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.- The No. 2 seed Immaculata women's tennis team engaged in an epic five-hour Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Semifinal match on Friday afternoon against No. 3 Marywood at the Legacy Tennis Center in Philadelphia, and the Pacers (11-4) topped the Mighty Macs in a nail-biter, 5-4, to end IU's season with an 11-4 record, which tied for the most in program history.

The postseason appearance was the third straight for the Macs, and they were attempting to get to the CSAC Championship game for the first time in team history after receiving their best seed ever.

After the two sides had split the first eight matches, the final point came down to the third singles match between senior Kara Trowbridge and Marywood's Devon Underwood.  Underwood won the first set 6-1, but Trowbridge bounced back with a 6-4 win in the second set to send it to the third and deciding set.  The two of them battled for nearly an hour and a half in the final set with several games reaching deuce, but Underwood came out on top 7-5 as she won the final three games to finish off Trowbridge and the Mighty Macs.

Head coach Scott McTigue said after the match, "I am so proud of how hard we competed throughout the entire match.  This match was a special treat to be able to watch.  It was decided by two points.  I'm thankful, and I know I speak for the other coaches, that we are in the company of exceptional young women student-athletes.  I'll never forget this team!"

The Macs started the match well winning two of the three doubles matches to take a 2-1 lead early on.  Junior Jenna Fratterelli and freshman Caitlin Savage got the first point of the day with an 8-4 victory in the third spot, and junior Lauren Degnan and sophomore Kelly Gross followed that with an 8-6 triumph in the top spot for the first two points of the day for IU.

Trowbridge and junior Annaliese Kambouroglos were locked in a tight match themslves in the second spot, and ended up falling, 9-7.

In singles, the Macs again got two points quickly to extend their advantage to 4-1.  Degnan got the first singles point with a quick 6-1, 6-3 win in the first spot, and Gross followed that with a 6-3, 6-0 win in the sixth position.

Marywood then mounted their comeback as Fratterelli lost in straight sets in the fifth spot, 6-1, 6-4, and Kambouroglos did the same in the fourth position, 6-3, 6-2.

Junior Nicole Burley had a back-and-forth match in the second spot as she dropped the first set 3-6, but rebounded with a 6-2 win to send it to the decisive third set.  In that set, she trailed 5-1, but rallied to win three straight games to make it 5-4 before Marywood's Abygail Doud put the match away at 6-4.

All focus then shifted to Trowbridge's third set, which was also back-and-forth the whole time.  After dropping the first two games, Trowbridge won three straight to go up 3-2.  Underwood then won two in a row, but Trowbridge responded with two more to go up 5-4 before Underwood won three straight to put it away.

The Mighty Macs finished 11-4 and with a program-best 8-2 record in CSAC play.