EASTON, Mass. - The third-seeded Saint Michael's College women's tennis team suffered a 5-0 defeat at No. 2 Stonehill College in the semifinal round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship on Thursday at the Charles Watt Tennis Courts. The Purple Knights, who are ranked eighth in the most recent NCAA regional rankings, finish the year 12-5, while the Skyhawks, who are seventh regionally, improve to 19-3.

This year marked the Purple Knights' 14th straight appearance in the NE-10 semifinals, making them the only team to have qualified for the semifinals each year since the conference moved to a team tournament format in the 1999-2000 season.

The tandem of Saint Michael's seniors Emily Magee (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury) and Jean-Marie McGrath (Niwot, Colo./Alexander Dawson School) held a 4-1 advantage in the early stages of their No. 1 doubles match before falling, 8-5, to the ninth-ranked pairing in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Region, senior Paige Frost (Brigantine, N.J./Holy Spirit) and first-year Kirsti Toegemann (Narragansett, R.I./The Lincoln School). Senior Alex Dalton (South Easton, Mass./Oliver Ames) and sophomore Caroline Martin (Scituate, Mass./Scituate) battled to a 7-7 tie at the second doubles position before taking a 9-7 setback, while sophomore Caroline Toutoungi (Weston, Conn./Weston) and first-year Erica Bundrick (Mattituck, N.Y./Mattituck) dropped an 8-5 decision at No. 3.

In singles action, Bundrick fell to Toegemann, 6-2, 6-1, at the second position before Toutoungi took a 6-0, 6-2 loss at No. 5 for the Skyhawks' match-clinching fifth point. Dalton had captured her opening set at No. 3, 6-4, while Magee suffered a narrow 6-4 setback during the first set at No. 1 to first-year Bailey Paradiso (Birmingham, Mich./Marian), the 19th-ranked singles player in the region.

ADDENDUM: Following the championship match on April 20, Dalton was named to the NE-10 Championship All-Championship team.