PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The higher seeded prevailed in the opening round of the 2025 Little East Conference (LEC) Women’s Tennis Championship Tournament, as No. 3 UMass Boston and No. 4 UMass Dartmouth won their matches to advance to the conference semifinals Thursday.
 
No. 3 UMass Boston 4, No. 6 Southern Maine 0
Karina Khalsa and Maya Rubenstein opened the match with a 6-0 victory over Muriel Lattin and Alexis Hayward at No. 3 doubles before Zainab Patel and Shreya Saravana Rakshana clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 win over Hanni Johnson and Payton Thibodeau at No. 2 doubles. USM’s Abby Emerson and Alyssa Conley held a 5-3 lead over Tatiana Malone and Althea Bradley when that match was halted.
 
UMass Boston secured all three singles bouts played to completion to advance to the semifinals. Patel downed Emerson at No. 1 by scored of 6-2 and 6-4, while Rakshana defeated Johnson 6-0, 6-4 at No. 4 and Rubenstein beat Lattin 6-2, 6-0 at No. 5.
 
The Beacons improved to 10-4 with the win at the Weymouth Club, while the Huskies season ends at 4-9.
 
No. 4 UMass Dartmouth 4, No. 5 Salem State 2
First year Mya Dean and sophomore Sofia Beltran opened doubles action by securing an early 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles for the Corsairs. Despite a strong effort at No. 1 doubles by senior Zuri Walters and junior captain Saige Croce, the Vikings came back to win the last two double matches to take a 1-0 lead into singles play.
 
Dean quickly tied the match up at 1-apeice with her dominate 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles. First year Ava Aguiar soon followed with another victory at No. 6 singles to defeat Sophie Games by a score of 6-1, 6-1 to grab their first advantage of the afternoon.
 
Doiron took down Delaney Cox at No. 5 singles (6-3, 6-4) to pull away with a 3-1 lead in the match. Ryann Tripp narrowed UMass Dartmouth's advantage to 3-2 with a win at No. 4 singles, but Beltran cemented the Corsairs 4-2 postseason win over Salem State thanks to a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 3 singles.
 
The Corsairs improved to a 9-5 overall record with the home victory while the Vikings concluded their season with a 5-5 mark.
 
NEXT UP: The Beacons will heads to second-seeded Bridgewater State University, while the Corsairs will travel to top-seeded Rhode Island College. Both matches are scheduled to start at 3 p.m. on Thursday.