DeWitt, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College women's tennis team opened its Spring season with a 7-0 setback to the University of Rhode Island on Saturday night at Elevate Fitness.
 
The Rams took a 1-0 lead in the match by claiming the point in the doubles competition. At the first position, graduate student Feriel Mahbouli (Tunis, Tunisia/Lycee 36/South Carolina State) and sophomore Ella Fernando (Manchester, England/Stonyhurst College) improved to 5-2 on the year with a 6-4 win over Katharina Spieth and Nikki Fernando. The Rams evened doubles play as Sophie Herrman and Klara Nelander registered a 6-4 win of their own at the third spot over junior Paula Casares (A Coruna, Spain/Colegio Maristas Cristo Rey) and senior Isabella Barona (Manta, Ecuador/Talentos de Manta). Grace Darcy and Anastasia Pettersson clinched the point in a tiebreaker at the second position over juniors Stella Simeonova (Sofia, Bulgaria/National Gymnasium of Mathematics and Natural Sciences) and Alicia Alvarez (Madrid, Spain/IES Ortega y Gasset), 7-6 (8-6).

The Rams swept each match in the singles competition in straight sets. At the first position, Spieth defeated Mahbouli, 6-3, 6-2. Herrman captured the win at the second spot over Ella Fernando, 6-0, 6-4. Nikki Fernando earned the victory at the third position over Casares, 6-0, 6-1. Darcy recorded back-to-back scores of 6-1 against Barona at the fourth spot. Pettersson downed Simeonova at the fifth position, 6-4, 6-3. Nelander closed out the match with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Alvarez at the sixth spot.

Le Moyne (0-1) is back in action on Friday against Binghamton University at Elevate Fitness in Liverpool at 7:00 p.m.