West Windsor, N.J. – The fifth-seeded Le Moyne College women's tennis team will begin postseason play on Thursday when they take on defending champion and fourth-seeded LIU in the opening round of the 2025 NEC Championships at the Mercer County Tennis Center.

The match is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m., with the winner to face top-seeded FDU in the semifinals on Friday.

Le Moyne and LIU met once during the regular season on April 5, with the Sharks claiming a 4-1 win over the Dolphins at Elevate Fitness in Liverpool.

Alicia Alvarez (Madrid, Spain/IES Ortega y Gasset) and Stella Simeonova (Sofia, Bulgaria/National Gymnasium of Mathematics and Natural Sciences) won the No. 2 doubles match for Le Moyne against Ksenia Reznitskaya and Fernanda Mueller by a score of 6-1, and Feriel Mahbouli (Tunis, Tunisia/Lycee 36/South Carolina State) claimed Le Moyne's only point of the match after defeating Reznitskaya 7-5, 6-4 in No. 1 singles.

Le Moyne finished the regular season with a 9-9 record, including 4-4 against Northeast Conference opponents to earn the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament, while LIU is 6-14 overall, including 3-3 against NEC competition which earned them the No. 4 seed.

The two sides did not compete against one another during the 2023-24 season, Le Moyne's first as a member of the Northeast Conference.

Le Moyne concluded the regular season on a high note, winning back-to-back home non-conference matches against Lafayette and St. Bonaventure.

Senior Isabella Barona (Manta, Ecuador/Talentos de Manta) was named an NEC Prime Performer for the team-leading fifth time this season after going 4-0 on the final weekend of the season. Barona is currently 10-5 in dual match singles competition, including 6-1 against conference opponents.

Sophomore Ella Fernando (Manchester, England/Stonyhurst College), who has been named an NEC Prime Performer twice this season, also has 10 singles wins in dual matches, and holds a 4-4 record against NEC opponents.

Mahbouli claimed Le Moyne's only No. 1 singles win this season, and is 2-3 at the second position. Alvarez has also claimed four conference singles victories for the Dolphins.

The duo of Mahbouli and Fernando is 5-3 in conference play at No. 1 doubles, while Barona and Casares are 3-3 in conference play, but 10-3 overall in dual matches at the third position. Alvarez and Simeonova are currently 3-4 in conference play doubles, and 6-6 in dual matches overall.

After dropping three conference matches in March against FDU, Saint Francis and Stonehill, LIU won their final three NEC matches of the regular season against Binghamton, Le Moyne and Wagner. Graduate student Lucia Garrigues is 4-1 in NEC singles play, while sophomore Paula Guillen Cerver is 4-2 against conference competition. Senior Clara Tardivel 7-6 overall in dual match singles competition, including 4-0 against conference opponents. The duo of Garrigues and Mia Tsoukalas is 7-9 in dual matches in No. 1 doubles, including 5-0 in conference.

LIU won the 2024 NEC Championship with a 4-2 win over FDU. Tardivel was named to the NEC All-Tournament Team

Le Moyne will be looking to claim the program's first Northeast Conference Tournament victory on Thursday.