Women's Tennis splits with Mount Holyoke and Smith on first day of spring competition

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. - Over five months after winning their second consecutie CCC Championship, the Endicott women's tennis team took on non-conference opponents Mount Holyoke and Smith to kick off their spring schedule leading up the NCAA DIII Tournament in early May.

The Gulls split their two Saturday matches, falling 5-4 to Mount Holyoke before taking down Smith 8-1.  Endicott continues with their five-match spring schedule with a home match up with Springfield on Monday, April 8th at 3:30 pm. 

Match One: Endicott 4, Mount Holyoke 5

Endicott earned points in two out of three doubles match ups, including a gritty 8-7 (7-5) tiebreaker win for #1 doubles duo Chrissy Martel (Westbrook, Conn.) and Natalie Egbert (Gorham, Maine) that broke a 1-1 tie early on.

In singles play, Mount Holyoke's #4, #5, and #6 singles players won in straight sets over each of their Endicott opponents to take a 4-2 lead in the match. Martel cut into the Mount Holyoke lead with a 2-6, 6-0, 10-5 win at the #2 singles flight but despite a hard-fought match from #1 singles player Emilie Cloutier (Lewiston, Maine), Mount Holyoke got the match-deciding fifth point.  Cloutier lost in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 10-8. 

Junior Amy Heacox (Marion, Mass.) ended the match by beating her Mount Holyoke opposition 2-6, 6-0, 10-5.

Match One: Endicott 8, Smith 1

Endicott earned an impressive 8-1 win over Smith in their second match of the day as the Gulls finished the day with a 15-3 overall season. 

Endicott took five of six singles matches, all in straight sets, including an impressive 6-0, 6-0 win at #6 singles by freshman Sarah Hill (Topsham, Maine) as well as victories by freshman Savannah Deady (Andover, Mass.), senior Rachel Fenstermaker (Somerset, Mass.), senior Gina Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.), and Egbert. 

The Gulls followed singles play with a clean sweep of doubles play with wins by Suzie Newman (Dighton, Mass.) and Fenstermaker at the #3 position, an 8-4 win by Pinciaro and Cloutier at the top flight, and a 9-8 (8-6) triumph for Deady and freshman Brittany Potter (Bedford, N.H.).