Women's Tennis Repeats as CCC Champions; Defeat Nichols 5-1

BEVERLY, Mass.-  For the second straight year, the Endicott women's tennis team was forced to travel to Nichols for the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship match after Nichols went undefeated in conference play during the regular season.  Last season, Nichols defeated Endicott 5-4 before Endicott won the championship match 5-3.  The regular season matchup between the two squads this year proved to have the same outcome again as Nichols won 5-4.  With everything on the line for the second straight week, Endicott rose to the occasion and knocked off the #1 seed Nichols for the team's second consecutive CCC Championship and NCAA tournament berth in the spring of 2013. 

Endicott was able to secure a 3-0 lead by sweeping the doubles matches.  The team of Natalie Egbert (Gorham, Maine) and Chrissy Martel (Westbrook, Conn.) was able to take #1 doubles by a score of 8-6 over Lindsay Benoit (Holden, Mass.) and Alex Cifone (Bristol, Conn.).  Emily Cloutier (Lewiston, Maine) and Gina Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) were able to win their #2 doubles match over Anna Dyakiv (Amsterdam, N.Y.) and Jillian McQuiggan (Weymouth, Mass.) 8-1, which is the same score Amy Heacox (Marion, Mass.) and Brittany Potter (Bedford, N.H.) won by at #3. 

Heading into the singles play needing to win just two matches, Endicott was able to get wins at #4 singles and #3 singles to give the Gulls the title.  Amy Heacox, Wednesday's hero as she propelled the Gulls into the title match, was able to beat McQuiggan at #4 singles 6-0, 3-6, 6-0, putting the Gulls up 4-1.  Heacox showed great focus as she was able to battle back and sweep the deciding set after falling in the second.  With the CCC Championship up for grabs, Natalie Egbert was able to pull out the clinching 6-4, 7-6 win at #3 by taking the tiebreaker 7-3 to give the Gulls the 5-1 victory.  The #3 singles match was crucial as the Gulls were knotted up in the remaining three singles matches.  #1 singles players Emily Cloutier and Anna Dyakiv were tied at one set a piece while Benoit was up a set on Martel at #2.  Martel was in control of the second, 5-2, and looked to be ready to force a third set.  Rachel Fenstermaker (Somerset, Mass.) was tied 5-5 in #6 with Katie Malloy (Norwell, Mass.) in the second after Malloy took the first set 6-4.

With the win, Endicott improves to 14-2 on the season as Nichols falls to 12-5.  Endicott now gets to enjoy their victory for a while as they are off until the spring season starts up to prep for the NCAA DIII Championships.