April 17, 2009

MONROEVILLE, Pa. - The St. Bonaventure women's tennis team dropped a 4-0 decision to eighth-seeded Rhode Island in the first round of The Atlantic 10 Championships at the Club 4 Life Tennis Center in Monroeville, Pa.

The defeat ends the Brown and White's season-high three-game winning streak and drops their overall to 4-14 in the spring season.

The Bonnies lost the doubles point to start the match down 1-0. Due to the Brown and White only having five players, St. Bonaventure forfeited at number six singles to give URI a 2-0 lead. The Rams picked up the final two points of the match with fairly routine straight set victories at the number four and five singles positions.

Lost in the defeat was the strong play of freshman Manuela Marin-Salcedo and sophomore Maria Barousse at their number one and two singles positions. Marin-Salcedo was winning her number one singles contest 7-5, 0-1 and Barousse was on top of her number two singles contest 6-1, 2-5 before play was stopped due to Rhode Island winning the match.

St. Bonaventure will continue play in the Atlantic 10 Championships on Saturday, April 18, at 8:00 am, when it takes on #12 seed Saint Joseph's in the consolation bracket.

#8 Rhode Island 4, #13 St. Bonaventure 0

Doubles
1. Kirsten Leikem/Tristany Leikem (URI) vs. Manuela Marin-Salcedo/Maria Barousse (SBU) 5-5 (DNF)
2. Pam Emery/Amanda Barletta (URI) def. Vanessa Rumpel/Ana Delgado (SBU) - 8-4
3. URI won by default

Singles
1. Manuela Marin-Salcedo (SBU) vs. Kirsten Leikem (URI) - 7-5, 0-1 (DNF)
2. Maria Barousse (SBU) vs. Christen Cadigan (URI) - 6-1, 2-5 (DNF)
3. Pam Emery (URI) vs. Vanessa Rumpel (SBU) - 6-3, 3-2 (DNF)
4. Tristany Leikem (URI) def. Ana Delgado (SBU) - 6-3, 6-2
5. Valerie Chacon (URI) def. Eileen Horgan (SBU) - 6-0, 6-1
6. URI won by default