BOX SCORE

EAST HARTFORD, Conn.—The University of Hartford women's tennis team opened its 2014 spring slate Sunday when it hosted Colgate. Despite dropping a 5-2 result to the Raiders, the Hawks fought down to the last point with the deciding singles matches going to tie-breaking third sets.

The Hawks put themselves in position to take the match thanks in large part to the singles play of Madeline Makings and Hannah Goldman. Makings, a freshman from San Diego, Calif., posted a 7-5, 6-1 win over Kaellin Brittin at No. 4 singles. In the No. 5 matchup, Goldman, a junior from West Hempstead, N.Y., cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Hannah Fleckenstein.

Colgate took the doubles point early in the match as well as singles victories at Nos. 3 and 5 to hold a 3-2 advantage with the top-two singles matches yet to be decided.

In the top spot, senior Ashley Harel took the first set from Colgate's Jen Ho, 7-5. Ho returned the favor in the second set by a 6-4 count to force the tiebreak. Harel then dropped a 10-2 decision in the tiebreak to give Colgate another point.

The No. 2 singles match between freshman Emily Sneddon and Colgate's Katie Grant also came down to a tie-break. The Hawks again took the first set as Sneddon posted a 7-6(3) victory to open the match. However, Shea came back to take the second set, 6-3, before taking a marathon tiebreak, 11-9, to earn the point.

Despite the final result, head coach Torr Terranova was excited but what he saw from the team on Sunday.  "This is the best tennis the women's team has played in four years. We played against a team that has many great senior leaders and we rose to the challenge to play very high-level tennis."

The Hartford women looked to continue at a high level when they head to the Empire State, to take on America East foe Albany on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 5 p.m.