WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The Towson University tennis team defeated Hofstra, 4-0, in the first round of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament on Thursday at the Millie West Tennis Facility.
 
The Tigers advance to the quarterfinals to face top-seeded James Madison in Friday's quarterfinals. The Dukes defeated the Tigers in the season opener on February 12. JMU (11-3) is the fifth ranked team in the East Region.
 
Towson and Hofstra were scheduled to play March 26, but the match was postponed because the Pride had only four healthy players. Hofstra still only had four players today.
 
Team scoring consists of three doubles matches played for one point, with six singles matches played for one point each. The first team to win four points overall wins the match.  The matches are played "clinch/clinch" – when the team doubles point is won, the remaining doubles match will be stopped. In singles, once the team match has been won, any remaining singles matches will be stopped.

With the No. 3 team of Amelia Lawson and Lea Kosanovic winning by default, the Tigers only had to win one match to clinch the doubles point. Towson's top doubles duo of Themis Haliou and Alexa Martinez did so in less than 25 minutes, winning 6-0, 6-0.

"It was important. We needed one of the doubles team to come out and established that we here to take care of business," Towson head coach Jamie Peterson said. "It was a great way to get the match started. We got the momentum and never let up."

The Tigers went up 3-0 when Lauryn Jacobs (No. 5 singles) and Jessica Assenmacher (No. 6) earned wins by default meaning Towson only needed to win one of the remaining singles matches to win. Martinez (No. 1), Haliou (No. 2), Lawson (No. 3) and Sarah Pospischill (No. 4) all won their first sets. Pospischill clinched the match with a 6-0, 6-0 victory. Lawson led her match 6-0, 4-0.

"They did what they needed to do. Amelia was just behind Sarah," Peterson added. "All four players from Hofstra were good. It is not like we just had to come down here and show up. We lost to JMU in the quarters in the last CAA championships two years ago. The match was 4-0 but the scores were close. We won one doubles match, Alexa, Amelia and Themis all lost close first sets in singles and two others were close. I told the girls we need to go out there tomorrow with some serious belief and if we do, we will give ourselves a shot to win. "
 
Records: 

• Towson – 7-13
• Hofstra – 1-6

Doubles Results (Towson earned the point): 
No. 1. – Themis Haliou/Alexa Martinez (Towson) def. Isabella Tonuzi/Mandisa Walle (Hofstra) – 6-0
No. 2. – Jessica Assenmacher/Sarah Pospischill (Towson) vs. Kayla Solagnier/Simran Desai (Hofstra) –DNF, 2-4
No. 3. – Amelia Lawson/Lea Kosanovic (Towson) won by default
 
Singles Results: 
No. 1 – Alexa Martinez (Towson) vs. Kayla Solagnier (Hofstra) – DNF, 6-3, 0-1
No. 2 – Themis Haliou (Towson) vs. Mandisa Walle (Hofstra) – DNF, 6-3, 2-1
No. 3 – Amelia Lawson (Towson) vs. Isabella Tonuzi (Hofstra) – DNF, 6-0, 4-0
No. 4 – Sarah Pospischill (Towson) def. Simran Desai (Hofstra) – 6-0, 6-0
No. 5 – Lauryn Jacobs (Towson) won by default
No. 6 – Jessica Assenmacher (Towson) won by default