WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley women's tennis team gave its Northeast-10 playoffs hopes a huge boost on Wednesday afternoon with a 5-4 victory over Merrimack.

The Falcons came into the day with a 4-4 NE-10 record and sat just outside of the top-six, while Merrimack was 7-2 and firmly in the top-six. With the victory, the Falcons are now 5-4 in the conference and have positioned themselves for a late season push with three matches to go.

Bentley won two of the doubles matches to take a 2-1 lead into singles, none bigger than the No. 2 match, which was won by juniors Catherine Gianino (Burlington, Mass./Burlington) and Brittani Hetyei (Vernon, N.J./Vernon). Trailing Rachel Muller and Mackenzie Blair 5-2, they took six of the last seven games to rally for an 8-6 victory. The No. 3 match was won for Bentley by Melanie Scott (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug) and Lexi Hinrichs (Franklin, Mass./Ursuline Academy), 8-3 over Danielle Dunn and Abbey Bryant.

The teams split the six singles matches, but Bentley's 2-1 advantage from doubles was enough to give them the victory. Rachel Petrini (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) took the No. 3 match 6-3, 6-0 over Dunn. Hetyei won her second match of the day in the No. 4 spot, 6-3, 6-3 over Muller. And Susan Stowe (Hebron, Conn./RHAM) blanked Abbey Bryant 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 6 match.

The Falcons next play their final home match of the regular season on Friday against Saint Anselm. Match time is 3:00 pm.