By Kevin Carroll – STAFF WRITER
The Hofstra men’s and women’s tennis teams both came up short of hoisting the conference trophy this season, as both teams fell in their opening matchups this past weekend at the Millie West Tennis Facility in Williamsburg, Virginia.

On Thursday morning, the women’s tournament got underway, as #9 Hofstra clashed with the eighth-seeded Delaware Blue Hens. The Pride quickly fell into a hole, as the Blue Hens swept the doubles matches, earning the first overall point of the matchup, giving them a 1-0 lead over the Pride.

From there, it was all Blue Hens, as UDel also swept the singles competition. In the opener, the Pride’s Bianca Posa fell 6-2, 6-0 to Abby Martinez of Delaware. Down 2-0, the Pride struggled to claw back into this one. Bianca Derrick and Giulia Leone put up good fights, but were unable to pick up victories for the Pride, as UDel took a commanding 4-0 lead, clinching their spot in the next round with only three matches left. In the interest of time, the remaining matches were called off, and the Pride was sent packing, on the losing end of a 4-0 final score.

The men found themselves in a similarly sticky situation in their opening matchup on Friday night, falling to #3 William and Mary 4-0.

In a contest that closely mirrored the women’s match from the previous day, Hofstra quickly found themselves down a point, as the Tribe swept the series of doubles matches, earning the all-important first point, and taking a 1-0 lead over Hofstra.

From there, the Pride clawed and scratched, but was unable to pull even with the Tribe. Hofstra’s Kevin Devine found himself on the losing end of a 6-1, 6-0 victory for Scott Huang in the opening singles matchup, giving the Tribe a 2-0 advantage. Leo Pires and Ari Richman soon followed suit, dropping their singles matches in short order, giving the Tribe an insurmountable 4-0 lead, and clinching William and Mary a spot in the next round. With the match in hand, the remaining matches still being played came to an end. Beau Wills, Hofstra’s top player, was deadlocked 2-2 in the first set of his matchup with the Tribe’s Will Juggins when the match was called off.

The Pride men’s team ends their season with a 10-7 mark. William and Mary advances to the CAA semifinals, for a date with #2 Elon. The women’s team finished with an impressive 12-5 record, while Delaware advanced to the next round, only to fall to top-seeded William and Mary.