Abygail Doud's three-set win helped Marywood rally and advance to the CSAC Championship match Saturday

Pacers Rally to Advance to CSAC Title Match

Women's Tennis - 10/23/2015 5:22:00 PM

Match Results

Philadelphia, PA - Devon Underwood rallied from a 5-4 deficit in the third and deciding set to win 7-5 and lift #3 Marywod University to a come-from-behind 5-4 win over #2 Immaculata University in the Colonial States Athletic Conference semifinals Friday afternoon at Legacy in Philadelphia.  The win advances the Pacers (11-4) to the CSAC title match against top-seed Gwynedd Mercy Saturday at 4:00 pm with the conference title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament on the line.

Marywood fell to the Mighty Macs (11-4) 8-2 during the regular season, and after falling behind 2-0 in doubles play got a huge lift from Abygail Doud and Melanie Kobela as they won the #2 doubles match over Kara Trowbridge and Anna Kambouroglos, 9-7.

Immaculata's Jenna Fratterelli and Caitlin Savage opened the semifinal with a 8-4 win over Nicole Sinclair and Devin Zombek at #3 doubles, while their teammates Lauren Degnan and Kelly Gross took a tight 8-6 win over Avery McCall and Devon Underwood at #1 doubles.

Advancing to singles play, the Mighty Macs built a 3-1 lead as Degnan put McCall away in two sets, 6-1, 6-3.  Sinclair got Marywood back to within one point, 3-2, as she won 6-1, 6-4 over Fratterelli.

Immaculata looked destined to win as Kelly Gross cruised to a 6-3, 6-0 win over Shannon Spencer at #6 singles to put the Mighty Macs up 4-2 and within a point of advancing, but Kobela again got Marywood back in the match with a hard-fought 6-3, 6-2 win over Kambouroglos at #4 singles to make it 4-3.

Doud took the first set in her #2 singles match against Nicole Burley 6-3, but then fell to Burley 2-6 in the second set.  With the match on the line, Doud edge Burley 6-4 in the third set to tie the match at 4-4.

In an epic three-set battle for the decisive point, Underwood controlled the first set for a 6-1 win but Kara Trowbridge responded with a 6-4 win in the second.  Underwood went up 2-1 in the third and final set, but Trowbridge would not go away.  Trowbridge then won the fourth game to even the final set at 2-2, then won the next to take a 3-2 lead.

Underwood rallied for two consecutive points to reclaim a 4-3 lead, but then Trowbridge returned the favor and went up 5-4.

Serving with the one point lead and a chance to advance the Mighty Macs to the Championship match, Trowbridge could not put Underwood away and the Marywood veteran tied the match back up at 5-5.  

Underwood and Trowbridge then battled back and forth with easily over a 100 volleys for the last two points, with Underwood winning both final points to win, 7-5.

Marywood will be in search of their 11th conference championship overall and first since 2012 when they take on the Griffins Saturday.
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