The Massachusetts women’s tennis team picked up its first win of the spring schedule on Sunday, taking down Saint Joseph’s 6-1 at home. With the victory, UMass improves to 3-1 in dual matches this season.

The Minutewomen’s win was “just what this team needed to bounce back after (its loss to) Brown,” UMass coach Judy Dixon said.

UMass (3-1) was successful in five of its six singles matches, losing only the No. 1 match to the Hawks (1-2) in a tiebreaker. Sonia Bokhari, Arielle Griffin, Jessica Podlofsky, Chanel Glasper and Jocelyn Providence won each of their matches in straight sets.

In doubles, the Minutewomen won the No. 1 (Yuliana Motyl-Chantal Swiszcz) and No. 2 (Bokhari-Glasper), 8-4 and 8-5, respectively, while narrowly losing the No. 3 (Podlofsky-Griffin) match 8-6.

“We were lucky to win the doubles point versus Saint Joe’s,” Dixon said. “They’re very much improved from last year. They have talented new freshmen … there was a full out effort from all players of UMass.”

Unfortunately for the Minutewomen, Dixon had to pull out senior captain Julia Comas, who has been strong for them all season. Comas, whose foot broke after an initial fracture, will need surgery. She’ll miss the rest of her collegiate career.

“We will need to learn to live with the loss of Julia,” Dixon said. “There’s no longer room for mistakes, everyone has to man up.”

Minutewomen lose to Brown

The Massachusetts women’s tennis team opened its 2013 spring season on Friday, narrowly losing to Brown 4-3.

The Bears, currently ranked No. 67 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Top 75, is the highest ranked opponent UMass has faced this season.

Brown (1-2) took home the first doubles match, 8-2, but dropped the next two, won by the pairs of Bokhari-Glasper and Podlofsky-Griffin, to the Minutewomen by the same margin.

UMass then lost four of the five singles matches, with its only victory coming from Podlofsky in the No. 4 matchup.

“(We) should’ve won in 2 of the singles so I was disappointed in the outcome,” Dixon said. “We should be more tedious with the teams in the top 100 … (I) had every reason to believe we would win.”

The Minutewomen next go on the road to face Harvard on Feb. 9.

Dixon believed the game will “be tough, yet indicative of how the team will be after (the loss of) Julia.”

Kat Kent can be reached at [email protected].