MERION STATION, Pa. - The Mason women's tennis team squeezed out a hotly-contested match to Atlantic 10 foe St. Joseph's, 4-3, Friday afternoon at the Aquatic, Fitness Tennis Complex.

Battling for the first point of the match, both the Patriots and the Hawks picked up a win to start. The Mason #2 duo of Brittany Pilkington and Olivia Lacy-Thompson slipped past Claire Minnoe and Maureen Devlin 11-9 in the tie-breaker. Mason's Morgan Yang and Marijke Boers fell to Aurora Davis and Alex Zachem 8-2 to make the #3 match the decider. Esu Erdenebat and Jane Awad secured the doubles point for Mason with an 8-6 win over Kristina Eisenbrand and Sarah Contrata.

Moving to singles play, St. Joseph's quickly took a 2-1 lead with wins at the top two singles positions. Boers evened the score with a 7-6, 6-0 victory over Eisenbrand. Yang put Mason back in front when she overcame a slow start to defeat Devlin 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.

The Hawks, Kelly Mulquin drew the match even at 3-3 with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Lacy-Thompson.

With the match coming down to the sixth singles match, SJU's Arianne Polatnick took the first set. Mason's Esu Erdenebat won the second set, forcing a decisive third set. With both players battling cramping issues Erdenebat took an early 2-0 lead. Polatnick eventually evened the set at 2-2. Erdenebat won the next game and then the Hawk, having used her injury time-out, had to retire resulting in the win for Erdenebat and Mason.

“I was so proud of our teams fight and perseverance today”, stated Head Coach Curtis. “The Hawks are a tough team, especially in their home environment. The Patriots played tough and our conditioning proved to be a factor in the win. My players are hard workers and it paid off today.”

The Patriots (14-7) return to action on Saturday when they host Monmouth at noon. On Sunday Mason will be the Game of the Week when they host their Senior Day as a double dual match against Mt. St. Mary's beginning at 1:00pm.

Doubles
1. Aurora Davis/Alex Zachem (SJU) def. Morgan Yang/Marijke Boers (Mason) 8-2
2. Olivia Lacy-Thompson/Brittany Pilkington (Mason) def. Claire Minnoe/Maureen Devlin (SJU) 8-7 (9)
3. Esu Erdenebat/Jane Awad (Mason) def. Kristina Eisenbrand/Sarah Contrata (SJU) 8-6

Singles
1. Aurora Davis (SJU) def. Jane Awad (Mason) 6-1, 6-0
2. Claire Minnoe (SJU) def. Brittany Pilkington (Mason) 6-3, 6-4
3. Marijke Boers (Mason) def. Kristina Eisenbrand (SJU) 7-6 (3), 6-0
4. Morgan Yang (Mason) def. Maureen Devlin (SJU) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5
5. Kelly Mulquin (SJU) def. Olivia Lacy-Thompson (Mason) 6-1, 6-3
6. Esu Erdenebat (Mason) def. Arianne Polatnick (SJU) 4-6, 6-2, 3-2 (retired-injury)