The UMass Lowell varsity four rowing team, playing the role of the avenger, won a tooth and nail battle against Merrimack College on the Merrimack River, Sunday afternoon, in Lawrence, Mass.
 
“It was a battle,” says UMass Lowell Coach Veronika Platzer.  “No more than a boat length separated the two crews.”
 
The River Hawk crew covered the two-thousand meter course in a time of seven-minutes and 35.65 seconds, five seconds faster than the Merrimack boat.
 
The racing conditions were described as “ideal” with virtually no wind and flat water.
 
The victory avenged a River Hawk loss a year ago, on the Merrimack in Lowell, that served notice that the year-old Merrimack crew was one to be reckoned with.  Merrimack went on from that to medal at the New England Championships.
 
The varsity four led by junior coxswain Rachel Paquette (Dracut, Mass.) included senior Melinda Neale (Plaistow, N. H.,) sophomore Jenna Bueno (Methuen, Mass.,) senior Kim Haskins (Taunton, Mass.) and sophomore and Rachel Piela (Amherst, Mass.)
 
“We set out to avenge that loss knowing full well that it would be a full out battle, especially on their home course,” says Platzer.
 
This was the first meeting this spring between the two squads; they will meet three more times in the next five weeks.
 
The UMass Lowell novice four turned in a strong effort but did not fare as well.  The Merrimack novice squad won that battle, pulling away in the final thousand meters, in a time of 7:57.6.  The River Hawk boat crossed the finish line in a time of 8:19.3.
 
The River Hawks return to the waters of the Merrimack, at the Bellegarde Boathouse in Lowell Saturday, April 13 (9:00am), to face Colby, Merrimack and the U. S. Coast Guard Academy.