Tufts sophomore Meghan McCooey (Cumberland/Mount St. Charles) has raised the bar for her remaining two years with the Jumbos tennis team. The former All-Stater reached the semifinals of the NCAA Division III Singles Championship at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota Saturday and earned All-America recognition.

McCooey won three matches before losing to fifth-seeded Cary Gibson of Williams College in the semifinals Saturday. Gibson lost to top-seeded Siobhan Finicane of Pomona-Pitzer in the final.

McCooey made her NCAA singles debut with a stunning 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 upset of second-seeded Katie Tabb of Washington & Lee. She followed that match with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Rebecca Lange of Pomona-Pitzer, which put her into the quarterfinals and made her an All-America.

McCooey rolled to a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Nicole Pontee of Vassar in the quarterfinals but couldn’t overcome Gibson in the semis and fell, 6-3, 6-2.

McCooey ended her season with a 23-8 record. The Jumbos were 12-7, 6-2 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Last fall she won the New England doubles championship, playing No. 2 with Hayley Young, and this spring was a first-team All-NESCAC selection. Her two-year record is 39-17.

RIC’s Lotti is second-team All-America

Rhode Island College first baseman Christi Lotti is a second-team All-America. The senior from Waterford, Conn., received the recognition last week at the NCAA Division III Softball Championship at Salem, Va.

Lotti entered the tournament with a .455 batting average, 10 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs, 30 RBI and 23 stolen bases. She scored 56 runs, a RIC record. A three-time Little East Conference player of the year and four-time first-team all-conference selection, she holds 13 career and eight season records. She earned first-team All-New England this season.

RIC (36-9) advanced to the championship round for the second consecutive season and lost twice, including a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to the tournament’s top seed, Louisiana College.

Brown crews are best in Ivy class

Hail to the victors!

Brown won the men’s and women’s Ivy League crew championships Sunday.

The men’s varsity eight edged Princeton by about two-tenths of a second at the Eastern Sprints on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester. Brown crossed the finish line in 6:13.210. Princeton finished in 6:13.387. Paul Strombom, Chris Greene, Matt Wheeler, Cole Bonner, Ben Duggan, Gareth Seymour, Colin Keogh and Scott Morgan rowed for the Bears. Rob O’Leary was the cox.

Wisconsin won the race in 6:09.719.

Brown’s second varsity and freshman eights finished third in their respective races. The third varsity was fifth.

The Bears will row in the IRA regatta June 5-7 at Camden, N.J.

Brown dominated the women’s Eastern Sprints on the Cooper River in Camden. The Bears put all five boats in the grand finals, and the varsity, second varsity and novice eights won championships.

The top-ranked varsity boat pulled away from Yale in the last 500 meters and won in 6:24.024. The Bulldogs finished in 6:25.192. The second varsity eight smashed the competition, crossing the finish line in 6:36.972. Dartmouth was second in 6:43.629.

The novice eight, also ranked No. 1, won by five seconds, 6:44.968 to Princeton’s 6:49.978.

Brown put boats in the two third varsity races and each finished second.

Next up for the Bears are the NCAA Championships on Lake Natoma in Sacramento, Calif. May 30-June 1.

Friars’ top scorer transfers

Three notes from the Providence College women’s basketball camp.

The leading scorer last season is transferring to North Carolina Charlotte to be close to home. PC has granted 5-5 guard Kendria Holmes’ request for a release from her commitment. She will have to sit out a year before putting on a 49ers uniform. She grew up in Charlotte.

Holmes played in all 29 games last season and started 28. She averaged 11.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4 assists and 1.4 steals and led the Friars in scoring seven times. As a freshman in 2007, she started 16 of the 28 games in which she played and averaged 7.3 points, 2.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals. She led the team with 103 assists.

Chelsea Marandola (Johnston), who missed last season because of a herniated disk in her back, is feeling fine, running again and hopes to resume playing basketball soon.

And Jonath Nichols, an assistant at St. John’s the last four seasons, has joined Phil Seymore’s staff. He was the Red Storm’s top recruiter. He has coached at Alabama Birmingham and Southwestern Community College in San Diego. He played basketball at UAB from 1980 to 1982.

PC star shines on court and classroom

Four years of college pass quickly, as Kate Lyons (Barrington/Portsmouth Abbey) learned. She graduated from Providence College with honors Sunday, having succeeded on the tennis court and in class. She played varsity tennis for four years and this month received the Sine Qua Non Award presented annually to a senior who has distinguished himself or herself without appropriate recognition. She also addressed 400 fellow athletes about her experience as a PC student-athlete.

Lyons is the daughter of PC tennis alums Peter and Karen Lyons.

Southeastern Mass. natives are hits at Hofstra

Hofstra junior Kayleigh Lotti (South Attleboro/St. Raphael) pitched the Pride to a record-breaking softball season, but it ended Sunday with a 5-0 loss to Arizona in the NCAA Division I Hempstead Regional. The Wildcats had beaten the Pride, 11-0, on Saturday, and Hofstra earned another shot at the defending national champions by eliminating Canisius, 5-1, Sunday.

Hofstra finished 45-13, breaking the school record of 43 victories set in 2005. The Pride started 7-7 and rolled to a 38-6 record in its next 44 games.

Lotti was 23-6 with a 1.46 ERA. She pitched 196.2 innings and struck out 241. She threw 14 shutouts, among them a one-hitter in a 3-0 victory over James Madison for the Colonial Athletic Association championship, and a three-hitter in a 1-0 triumph over Long Island University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. She broke the Hofstra career strikeout record of 638, set in 1995, and has 743 after only three seasons. She was the CAA pitcher of the year for the second consecutive season and was first-team All-Mid Atlantic for the third time.

Courtney Oliver (Swansea) was another key player for the Pride. As a pitcher, she was 10-3 with a 1.12 ERA. She threw 81 innings and struck out 69. As a designated player she hit .269 with seven doubles and four homes runs. She drove in 40 runs and ended her career ninth with 117.

Barrington’s Serio falls short in NCAA regional

Another local softball star and her team lost in an NCAA regional final.

UMass sophomore Jessica Serio (Barrington) had two hits for the No. 20 Minutewomen in a thrilling 2-1 victory over No. 8 Stanford Sunday, forcing the deciding game of the NCAA Division I Amherst Regional. But neither Serio nor her teammates could touch Stanford pitcher Missy Penna in the finale. Penna threw her second no-hitter of the season, and the Cardinal won the Amherst Regional with a 6-0 decision.

The two runs UMass scored in the sixth game of the double-elimination tournament were the only runs Stanford allowed. UMass finished, 42-13, its third consecutive 40-win season.

Serio started all 55 games and led the Minutewomen in hitting with a .365 average. She had 15 doubles and 23 RBI. She committed only 8 errors in 415 chances. She was second-team All-Atlantic 10.

Serio has played in 95 games at UMass and started 90. Recruited as a third baseman, the 5-8 right-handed hitter and thrower made the switch to catcher after she arrived on campus and has been behind the plate since. She hit .221 as a freshman in 2007.

Coventry’s Rossi takes charge on soccer field

Eastern Nazarene senior Rob Rossi (Coventry) will be captain of the Crusaders soccer team next fall. The 6-2 center back/midfielder is a three-year letterman. He played in 20 games last fall and started 12. ENC finished 1-19, 1-11 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.

mszostak@projo.com