The Massachusetts women’s rowing team opened up their spring season victoriously, in a scrimmage against Coast Guard on Saturday.

With windy conditions on the Connecticut River, the races got underway around 9 a.m., with UMass dominating in all races. Between the varsity eight, second varsity eight, novice eight, varsity four and lightweight four, the two teams raced in a total of 13 races with UMass winning all 13.

The two schools’ varsity eight and second varsity eight squads raced in a total of five races. UMass’ varsity eight won three of five and the second varsity took the other two.

The varsity eight squad consisted of rowers Andrea Morand, Ali DiMatteo, Airlina Burrill, Sarah Marsan, Terri O’Brien, Kelly Barrett, Rachel Nealer and Erin Kelly and was led by coxswain Dana Pulda.

The second varsity eight included Liz Euiler, Julie Marcus, Samantha Smith, Haley Fitzgerald, Dani Vollman, Amanda Mawn, Claire Champine and Kesley Schacter. The coxswain was Molly Morgan.

The novice eight shared the success as the varsity squads when they took all four of the races against Coast Guard. The two competed in three four-minute races, and also in one three-minute race.

The novice eight squad was led by coxswain Carly Payne and had rowers Jen Coyne, Emily Hagan, Megan Donavan, Anna Tocco, Rachel Spielberg, Alex Lucas, Jen Dolan and Ellie Brazenall.

The last squads to compete were UMass’ varsity four and lightweight four against Coast Guard’s varsity four. UMass’ varsity four took all four of the matches.

The varsity four teams included rowers Chelsea Wakeham, Jess Romain, Karen Plevock and Meredith Kerny. The coxswain was Molly Bogle.

The lightweight squad consisted of rowers Liz Tran, Lindsay Dawson, Amy Nash and Chelsea Finnegan with Sam Schnoerr as the boat’s coxswain.

The dominance displayed by UMass shows just why they have been ranked No. 1 in the Atlantic 10 conference. The rankings, which are decided by the coaches in the conference, are also due to the dominance that UMass has had in rowing that has spanned over a decade.

Led by Coach Jim Dietz, the squad looks to earn another Atlantic 10 conference title. The title would be the team’s 13th consecutive after dominating the conference for over a decade.

Although the match against Coast Guard was just a scrimmage, it showed the team a lot. “It was a good day today, as we learned a lot about ourselves and our abilities,” said coach Jim Dietz. “After a difficult spring break week in Amherst, it was a good conclusion to a difficult training period.”

With strong winds blowing through Amherst all week, the team got a good week of training in before they compete in their first scored regatta of the season.

UMass will face off against other schools from New England this coming Saturday in Kingston, R.I. The teams will fight for the Yankee Cup in what will be the opening of the official spring season.

Jeff Larnard can be reached at [email protected].