Women's Tennis Knocks Off #1 Nichols to Capture CCC Championship

Box Score

DUDLEY, Mass. – Gina Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) delivered the winning point at sixth singles to help the Endicott women’s tennis team defeat Nichols 5-3 and win their first CCC Championship since 2008. With the victory, Endicott (14-1, 7-1 CCC) earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship. The Gulls also avenge their only loss of the season, which came at the hands of the Bison, who fall to 11-4 (8-0 CCC).

Pinciaro put in a gritty come-from-behind victory, winning the last two sets 6-3 and 6-4 after dropping the first set 2-6, to seal the victory for the Gulls, who were the second seed in the tournament.

The Bison took two of the first three points on offer, winning at first doubles (8-2) and at second doubles (8-4). Emilie Cloutier (Lewiston, Maine) and Amy Heacox (Marion, Mass.) collected the first point of the day for the Gulls by finishing off their third doubles match with an 8-0 victory.

Heacox wasted no time in getting to work on the singles court, where she played in the \#3 spot. The freshman was the first singles match to finish as she made quick work of Alexandra Cifone (Bristol, Conn.), 6-0, 6-2, tying the match at two points apiece.

With the conclusion of the \#1 singles match, Nichols re-took the lead as Anna Dyakiv (Amsterdam, N.Y.) won 6-0 in the first set and then sprung a second set comeback to beat Kate Cioffi (Essex, Vt.) 7-5.

The fourth and fifth singles players for Endicott, though, had little difficulty, with each winning in straight sets. Emily Annis (Hampton, N.H.) eliminated Chelsey Miller (Salem, Conn.) by a 6-3, 6-1 score at fourth singles, while Natalie Egbert (Gorham, Maine) took care of Jillian McQuiggan (Weymout, Mass.) 6-3, 6-2 at the fifth spot, as Endicott jumped out to a 4-3 advantage in the race to five points.

The match came down to the final two singles matches, played at the second and sixth positions. Cloutier had a 1-0 advantage in a decisive third set at second singles when Pinciaro sent the Gulls to victory.

Endicott women’s tennis will make their second ever appearance in the NCAA tournament this coming spring. In 2008-09, the Gulls fell in the first round to Wellesley College after winning their first ever conference title.