LOUDONVILLE, NY – Siena Women's Tennis first-year head coach John Chiaramonte summed up this version of the Saints in one word: "resilient." 
 
The Saints (5-11, 3-3 MAAC) picked up three much-needed conference victories over a six-day span to fight their way into the MAAC Tournament for an eighth consecutive season—and ninth overall—in program history. 
 
"The word to describe them is resilience," coach Chiaramonte said.
 
"Between starting 0-3 and having to deal with some tough injuries this year, it's just the way that they've been able to bounce back every single match.  And, it's not like the last three matches that we just won.  We won every single one 6-1." 
 
Now, the fourth-seeded Saints have earned the right to take on No. 1 seed Fairfield (10-8 overall, 6-0 MAAC) on Saturday at 10 a.m. in West Windsor, New Jersey at the Mercer County Park Tennis Center to compete in the 2024 MAAC Tennis Semifinals.
 
A noted area of improvement for the Saints during this turnaround has been their results in doubles competition. 
 
In what was an earlier season struggle for the team, the Saints have turned the doubles circuit into a strength recently by sweeping all three doubles matches this past Sunday against Mount St. Mary's, last Friday versus Rider and the previous Monday against Marist for a third consecutive time to take the doubles point.
 
Coach Chiaramonte, who had served as either an associate or assistant coach during this eight-year playoff stretch, knows from experience the championship pedigree on the squad exists with their recent playoff experience and two active players who were on the roster from its last title during the 2021 MAAC championship run in seniors Emma Boggiali and Shelby Madeiros.
 
On Friday, the conference office released its All-MAAC selections with five honors presented to Siena including two awards apiece to junior Laia Giralt, seniors Alexa Wilson and Boggiali as well as one to freshman Zaara Omar.
 
In the last two meetings with the Stags, both matches went the distance with Fairfield pulling out slim 4-3 wins. 

Fairfield won two of three close doubles matches last time out to earn the doubles point—something that is likely to play a key part in determining who wins the match on Saturday. 
 
"If this team plays their best, there's not a team in the MAAC that can beat us," coach Chiaramonte said.