WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – The third-seeded Niagara Purple Eagles had their season come to an end in the 2013 MAAC Tournament Semifinals to the No. 2 seed Marist Red Foxes, 4-2, on Saturday at the Mercer County Park.

“Today was another tough loss for our women’s team,” MAAC Coach of the Year Anthony Nguyen said. “The women battled, but unfortunately they came up short today.”

Niagara (14-8) was making its first appearance in the MAAC Tournament since April 2010. Saturday’s match was a rematch of last Saturday’s when the Purple Eagles were denied an outright regular season championship by Marist (10-7) and fell into the three seed due to a tiebreaker.

Today’s match, like the first meeting, came down to the pivotal doubles point. All three doubles matches were close. NU’s No. 1 team of Hilary Hansen and Maria Ortiz trailed 4-1 before storming back to win 9-7 for the first completed match of the day. Hansen and Ortiz, who were named to the All-MAAC First Team, finished the season with a 16-4 record for the most wins by a doubles team since the 2002-03 season.

In three doubles action, Ashley Ta and Jenna McCune were battling Marist’s Marielle Campbell and Kaye Eastman point-for-point. Ta and McCune, who also earned All-MAAC First Team honors, fell 9-7 as the doubles portion of the match was tied at 1-1.

NU’s number two tandem, Iva Celan and Sarah Hellstern, held a 7-4 lead before Marist rallied to force a tiebreaker. The Red Foxes scored five straight games in the tiebreaker to win the set 9-8(4) to steal the doubles point.

“Losing the doubles point was tough, but we knew we still had an opportunity going into singles,” Nguyen said.

The Purple Eagles turned their attention to singles play where they needed to win four of the six matches. Niagara lost in six singles, but Hansen put NU on the board with an emphatic straight set win, 6-3, 6-1. Hansen, who entered the match as the only Purple Eagle to have played in a MAAC Tournament, improved to 4-1 in singles and 3-3 in doubles all-time in the MAAC Tournament.

“We are definitely going to miss a great senior like Hilary Hansen, who has done so much for the program,” Nguyen said. “She has been a great captain and role model. We will miss her dearly next year.”

Ta, an All-MAAC Second Team performer, fell to first teamer Joana Sun, 6-2, 6-3. Ortiz, who made first team in four singles, won 6-4, 6-4. NU now trailed 3-2 with two All-MAAC First Team selections in Hellstern and Celan left on the court. Hellstern, the 2013 MAAC Rookie of the Year, lost the first set to Karlene Pang 6-4 in two singles. Celan and Lisa Ventimiglia split their first two sets, and Celan was leading in the third set. However, Hellstern couldn’t bounce back in the second set and fell 6-1 to end the match.

Niagara concludes the season with a 14-8 record for its most wins since the 2004-05 season.

Marist 4, Niagara 2
 Singles competition
1. Hansen,Hilary (NIAW) def. Raynor, Kelsey (MAR) 6-3, 6-1
2. Pang, Karlene (MAR) def. Hellstern,Sarah (NIAW) 6-4, 6-1
3. Sun, Joana (MAR) def. Ta,Ashley (NIAW) 6-2, 6-3
4. Ortiz,Maria (NIAW) def. Campbell, Marielle (MAR) 6-4, 6-4
5. Ventimiglia, Lisa (MAR) vs. Celan,Iva (NIAW) 6-7 (7-4), 6-2, 3-4, unfinished
6. Tahir, Sabrina (MAR) def. McCune,Jenna (NIAW) 6-0, 6-0
 
  Doubles competition
1. Hansen,Hilary/Ortiz,Maria (NIAW) def. Pang, Karlene/Sun, Joana (MAR) 9-7
2. Raynor, Kelsey/Tahir, Sabrina (MAR) def. Celan,Iva/Hellstern,Sarah (NIAW) 9-8 (7-4)
3. Campbell, Marielle/Eastman, Kaye (MAR) def. Ta,Ashley/McCune,Jenna (NIAW) 9-7
 
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (6,1,3,4,2)