JOHNSON, Vt. – With their 9-0 victory over Northern Vermont University-Johnson, the Husson Eagles earned the No. 1 seed for the 2018 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) women's tennis championship tournament that will be held Saturday, October 6th at the Berkshire West Athletic Club in Pittsfield, Mass. The NAC preseason favorite, Husson closed out the regular season undefeated 8-0 (4-0 NAC), earning the top seed for the first time in program history. 

Paired up alongside Ashley Matlock, Meridith Blessard became the winningest Eagle in doubles action in program history with her 23rd win over Badgers Grace Page and Mikayla Messier. The duos of Natalie Tilton, Hannah Malinen and Jocelyn Bell, Marisa Brown defeated both NVU-Johnson pairs, 8-2 and 8-5. 

Matlock was the only Eagle to completely shut down the Badgers, 6-0, 6-0 in singles action. Elizabeth Chitambar was the only Badger to come within a point of overtaking an Eagle in a singles set, but Tilton once again came out on top, 7-6, 6-3. Blessard, Malinen, Julia O'Leary, and Nicci Munroe were all victorious in singles competition as they took down Page, Sam Kershner, Rebecca Simon, and Leah Gaboury. 

The Eagles will face the No. 4 seed Northern Vermont University-Lyndon (1-8 overall, 1-4 NAC) in a semifinal match. No. 2 Lesley (3-7, 3-1) squares off with No. 3 Northern Vermont University-Johnson (4-6, 2-2) in the other semifinal match.

The semifinal round will begin at 9:00 a.m., with the order of play still to be determined. The winners meet in the final round an hour after the opening matches are complete.

The NAC champion will earn an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA tournament in the spring.