Endicott defeats Merrimack 9-0; Cloutier battles in both singles and doubles

BEVERLY, Mass. - Gulls junior Emilie Cloutier (Lewiston, Maine) was part of two tiebreaker victories on Thursday afternoon, leading the Endicott women's tennis team to a 9-0 sweep over NCAA DII opponent Merrimack. 

As part of a 3-0 doubles sweet for the Gulls, Cloutier, along with partner Gina Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.), needed a 13-11 tiebreaker to beat the Warriors duo of junior Kara Hole (Portsmouth, R.I.) and Mollie Fitzgerald (Melrose, Mass.) 9-8 at the #2 position.  Cloutier then battled Merrimack sophomore Shakee Messina (Caracas, Venezuela) to a 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 win at the top singles position.  

Sophomores Chrissy Martel (Westbrook, Conn.) and Natalie Egbert (Gorham, Maine) won the top doubles match 8-4 and their respective #2 and #3 singles matches in straight sets.  

Sophomore Amy Heacox (Marion, Mass.) teamed up with freshman Brittany Potter (Bedford, N.H.) at the #3 doubles position and edged out their Warrior opposition 8-5.  Heacox continued her undefeated season in both singles and doubles with the two wins and now stands at 18-0 (9-0 singles, 9-0 doubles) on the season. 

Rounding out the singles matches were junior Annie Gluskin (Duxbury, Mass.) and senior Rachel Fenstermaker (Somerset, Mass.) at #5 and #6 flights, respectively.  Gluskin won 6-0, 6-2 and Fenstermaker won 7-5, 6-3 to help Endicott complete the shutout, non-conference victory.

Endicott will host Eastern Nazarene on Homecoming Saturday at noon at the South Campus Courts.  Merrimack, who dropped to 1-2 on the season, moves on to face Northeast-10 foe St. Rose on Saturday at 1:00 pm in Albany, New York.