The Suffolk University Women's Tennis team opened the 2011 season with a 7-2 victory over Anna Maria College in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action on Saturday afternoon.

Senior Kelly Conrad (Lanstuhl, Germany) picked up a pair of victories to lead the Rams, who opened the season up with a victory in league play. Conrad, playing out of the one position in singles play defeated sophomore Victoria Minotti (Shelton, Conn.) in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Conrad then teamed with freshman Erica LeBlanc (Londonderry, N.H.) for top win in doubles play, an 8-1 victory over Minotti and sophomore Kelly Blake (Southbridge, Mass.).

LeBlanc was a multiple winner on the day as well for the Rams as she earned a victory in the four singles spot with straight set wins over freshman Pam McWaid (Wolchester, Conn.), 6-0, 6-1.

Senior Rebecca Copeland (Bristol, R.I.) earned two victories as well for Suffolk as she picked up 6-1, 7-5 set wins over sophomore Emily Williamson (Spencer, Mass.) in the second singles position. Copeland then teamed with freshman Adrianna Garrett (Plymouth, Mass.) for an 8-2 second doubles win.

Garrett earned two wins on the day for Suffolk as well, as she swept the third singles match, 6-0, 6-3 over freshman Janice Wang (Brandchburg, N.J.).

Freshman Nicole Goudreau (Harrisville, R.I.) had a hand in both of the AMCATS points on the day. The freshman picked up a singles set victory in game give as she and sophomore Georgia Ward (Exeter, R.I.) went to a double super tie break set that saw Goudreau win 10-8. Goudreau and McWaid topped Ward and sophomore Stacey Politis (Saugus, Mass.), 8-6 in the third doubles match.

Sophomore Elizabeth Arkins (Melrose, Mass.) earned the other Suffolk victory winning in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0 in the sixth singles spot.

Suffolk Head Coach Steve Counihan was pleased with what he saw on day one. "Today's victory was an exciting one for us. We got solid play out of our seniors with Kelly and Rebecca, while our younger players, including our freshmen also helped carry the load. It was an important win because it was a GNAC win, but it was also good to see some our younger players perform well.

Anna Maria will be back in action on Sunday as they host Johnson State in non-conference action 11:00am. Suffolk will travel to Bridgewater State University on Tuesday afternoon for a 3:30pm non-league match against the Bears.