Columbia, Md. – Defending America East champion Stony Brook advanced to the championship match of the 2016 league champions as they defeated host UMBC, 4-0, at the Wilde Lake Tennis Center.

The second-seeded Seawolves will take on top-seeded Albany for the title.

It looked like Stony Brook would take the doubles competition with relative ease, but UMBC's top duo of senior Shannon Cleary and Laura Ambrozic had other ideas. SBU won the match at No. 2 doubles, and their No. 1 tandem held a 5-2 lead.  But the Retrievers broke the Seawolves twice and got the match to a tie-breaker. In the breaker, SBU had three match points, but Cleary and Ambrozic won the final five points to take the match.

However, the Retrievers' No. 3 duo of senior Madlena Kurasz and sophomore Charlotte Tonjann, could not hold onto an advantage in their match and the Stony Brook tandem rallied to send that match to extra time. The Seawolves prevailed and took a 1-0 lead into singles play.

The singles matches were tight at 4-6, but Stony Brook got out to early leads at the top of the ladder and clinched at the No. 3 position.

UMBC completes the campaign with a record of 4-9.

Doubles

No. 1 Shannon Cleary/Laura Ambrozic, UMBC def. Yana Nikoleava/Elizabeth Tsvetkov, SBU, 7-6 (6)

No. 2 Devanshi Bhimijiyani/Louise Badoche, SBU def. Alice Taylor/Maria Siopacha, UMBC, 6-3

No. 3 Nadia Smergua/Becky Shtilkind, SBU def. Madlena Kurasz/Charlotte Tonjann, UMBC, 7-6 (8)

Order of Finish: 2,1,3*

Singles

No. 1 Nikoleava def. Siopacha, 6-3, 6-3

No. 2 Tsvetkov def. Kurasz, 6-4, 6-3

No. 3 Bhimijiyani  def. Dolashvili, 6-3, 6-2

No. 4 Smergua led Taylor, 7-6 (8), 2-3, DNF

No. 5 Badoche led Cleary, 6-2, 4-6, 1-0, DNF

No. 6 Ambrozic led Shtilkind, 7-5, 2-2, DNF

Order of Finish: 1,2,3*