The Massachusetts women’s tennis team went 1-1 on its trip to South Carolina over spring break, defeating Charleston Southern 4-3 and dropping a meet to College of Charleston 6-1.

This was a week of firsts for the Minutewomen. It was the first trip they have taken to South Carolina, the first time they had played either of the teams this decade, and the first time they played outdoors all season.

UMass coach Judy Dixon was pleased with the results of the trip. She had two goals for the week: get the team used to playing outdoors and win one of the two meets the team competed in. She accomplished them both.

She was especially happy that the Minutewomen were able to overcome Charleston Southern, which earlier this season beat Charlotte, the team that knocked UMass out of the Atlantic 10 Tournament last year.

“We knew that we really wanted to do well against Charleston Southern, who beat Charlotte 5-2. That bodes well for the conference seeding as we will probably get a higher seed than Charlotte,” Dixon said.

Based on the win last week, it seems likely that the Minutewomen will earn a top four seeding in the A-10 Tournament.

Dixon felt that the key to the UMass victory was the doubles point. UMass won two out of the three doubles matches to secure what would ultimately be the tiebreaker of the meet.

The Minutewomen also scored three singles match victories. Senior captain Masha Pozar won her 10th match of the season, (6-2, 6-1) Tanisha Hodgson won her second match of the season (6-4, 6-2), and Laura Dinai also pulled off a victory (6-4, 6-2).

Dinai, who plays in the sixth slot, had the best week among all of the players on the team, winning every match she competed in this weekend, including two doubles matches (her partner was Maude Lecluyse). She was the only player to win a match against the College of Charleston.

“She was probably the real go-to person this week, her match against the College of Charleston was a match that stuck out in my mind as the best played match of the day,” Dixon said.

In the Minutewomen’s meet against the College of Charleston, the wind was blowing over 20 miles an hour. Those conditions under normal circumstances would call for a cancellation and a rescheduling, but because there was no way to go back to South Carolina again, Dixon decided to play anyways.

Dixon felt that if the weather had been better UMass might have pulled out the victory.

“I would say that if we played that match in better conditions it could have gone either way. Even though we lost 6-1, all of the matches were hotly contested so I was pleased with their effort against such a solid team,” Dixon said.

Despite the disappointing result in the second meet, Dixon noted that playing in the elements did give some great experience for the team, as they prepare for the upcoming A-10 Tournament.

Scott Feldman can be reached at [email protected].