FREDERICK, Md.--The Hood College women's tennis team (10-9, 3-3 CAC) eked out a 5-4 Capital Athletic Conference victory over the St. Mary's College (Md.) Seahawks (11-7, 3-3 CAC) Friday at the Baker Park Tennis Courts.

The match was delayed several hours after the Seahawks encountered traffic delays en route to Frederick. But once the match began, the Blazers took a 2-1 lead after doubles play. Jillian Elkaim and Emily Schrodel teamed up for the third time this season and remained perfect with an 8-5 win over Michelle Compton and Monica Powell. Dani Hunt and Christine Ocampos-Barry knocked off Colleen O'Neill and Jerilyn Roagalski, 8-4, for the other doubles point.

Then in singles action, Elkaim had little trouble with Compton at the No.1 spot, winning 6-1, 6-0, for her school-record setting 14th victory of the season. She eclipsed the previous mark of 13 set by Gina Long during the 2000-01 season.

Ocampos-Barry earned a hard-fought 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 triumph over Powell in a match which featured several lengthy rallies. St. Mary's captured third, fifth and sixth singles in straight sets, making the fourth singles match between Hunt and O'Neill the clincher.

Hunt rallied from a 4-1 deficit to tie the match at 6-6. But in the middle of the seven-point tiebreaker, the lights at the Baker Park courts went out as the clock approached the curfew time of 10 p.m. St. Mary's conceded the match to Hood, which put the Blazers and Seahawks in a three-way tie with York College (Pa.) for third place in the league standings, all with 3-3 marks in CAC play.

After all other tiebreaking procedures had been exhausted, a coin flip was administered to determine the seedings for the conference tournament. York earned the third seed and will host sixth-seeded Stevenson University in its CAC tournament match, while Hood earned the No. 4 seed and will host the No. 5 Seahawks again Sunday in a rematch of today's contest at noon.