The 2011-2012 campaign for the Massachusetts women’s tennis team came to an end this past Sunday, with a 4-3 loss in the Atlantic 10 championship game to Richmond.

The No. 1-seeded Minutewomen (16-8, 7-2 A-10) fought hard in the match, and kept it close throughout, but in the end the No. 3-seeded Spiders (14-4, 7-1 A-10) were too much.

With this win, Richmond wrapped up its fourth straight A-10 championship, and ninth conference championship in the past 10 years.

UMass opened the match with the momentum, winning the all-important doubles point to take the early 1-0 lead.

Yuliana Motyl and Chantal Swiszcz started things off for the Minutewomen with a convincing 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles over the Spider’s Helen Cunningham and Alexandra Smyth. Motyl and Swiszcz went a perfect 3-0 in their three matches during the tournament.

But No. 2 and No. 3 doubles were much closer.

Richmond’s No. 2 doubles team of Melissa Kandinata and Elizabeth Sims, defeated UMass’ Sonia Bokhari and Chanel Glasper, 9-7, to even up doubles play at one apiece.

The Minutewomen clinched the doubles point thanks to No. 3 doubles team Hazuki Onaga and Jessica Podlofsky, who defeated Joanna Matuszczyk and Nil Horoz of the Spiders, 8-6.

This gave UMass the 2-1 win in doubles play and along with it, the doubles point towards the overall score.

When singles competition commenced, Richmond got off to a torrid start, as it won the first three singles matches, to take the 3-1 lead.

The wins for the Spiders came at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 singles.

The No. 1 and No. 3 wins were especially dominant, as No.1 Matuszczyk defeated Motyl, 6-1, 6-0, and No. 3 Kandinata defeated UMass’ Julia Comas, 6-0, 6-1.

And No. 5 Smyth and Onaga played a slightly closer match but the result was the same, a 6-2, 6-4 win for Richmond.

Down 3-1, the Minutewomen needed to win the final three matches in order to claim the championship.

UMass got off to a good start with a straight set win at No. 2 singles by Bokhari over Cunningham, 7-5, 6-1.

Then Glasper turned in a gutsy three-set win over Horoz at No. 6 singles, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, and tied the match at three.

This meant the championship would be decided at No. 4 singles between Podlofsky and Sims. Podlofsky got off to a good start with a 6-3 win in the opening set.

Sims battled back with a win in the second set, 7-6 (6), evening up the final match at a set apiece.

The third set was close as well, but Sims bested Podlofsky, 7-5, to win the match and the championship for the Spiders.

The two teams battled for a total of five hours.

Richmond will now turn its attention towards the NCAA regionals next month. This will be the Spider’s 10th trip to the NCAA’s and their seventh in the past eight seasons.

UMass survives Temple

In order to reach the championship game, UMass first had to deal with pesky No. 4-seeded Temple on Saturday.

The Minutewomen survived the scare, with a 4-3 over the Owls (14-11, 8-2 A-10).

As usual, UMass won the doubles point, with two of the three doubles matches resulting in wins, to take the 1-0 overall lead in the match.

Both No. 1 doubles (Motyl and Swiszcz} and No. 2 doubles (Bokhari and Glasper) both picked up convincing wins. Motyl and Swiszcz won, 8-4, while Bokhari and Glasper claimed an 8-3 win.

Then, No. 3 doubles, Onaga and Podlofsky, lost 8-1 to Yana Mavrina and Agnese Rozite of the Owls, but this loss proved to be inconsequential in the end.

Mavrina started singles competition with a, 6-1, 6-1, win in singles No. 1 over UMass’ Motyl.

No. 2 Bokhari picked up a straight set win over Alicia Doms, 6-0, 7-6, to give the Minutewomen back the lead.

Next to finish was No. 4 singles. Podlofsky defeated Paola Calderon of Temple, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2, and put UMass one win away from a championship berth.

The Minutewomen would have to wait a little longer, however, as the Owls picked up crucial wins at No. 3 and No. 5 singles, to tie the match at three.

This meant the match would come down to No. 6 singles. Glasper and Ama Osei of Temple battled for three sets, with Glasper eventually coming out victorious 2-8/6, 7-6, 6-2, to secure the UMass victory.

UMass rolls over Duquesne

The Minutewomen’s quest for the A- 10 championship began on Friday with an easy 4-0 win over Duquesne.

The usual suspects at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles won their respective matches to give UMass the doubles point. No. 3 doubles suffered an 8-5 defeat to the team of Tara Majdalani and Chandler Consonery.

In need of three more wins, the Minutewomen won at No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 singles in easy straight set victories. With the match already in hand for UMass, the two teams did not finish the other three matches still in progress.

Cameron McDonough can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_McDonough.