Endicott Downs Nichols, 5-1, To Advance To CCC Tournament Championship Match

BEVERLY, Mass. – The first-seeded Endicott women's tennis team defeated fourth-seeded Nichols, 5-1, on Thursday evening to advance to the CCC Tournament championship match for the fifth straight season.

Endicott carried a 2-1 lead into singles play as the No. 2 pairing of Hayley Barnett (Marlboro, N.J.) and Margot Andreasen (Portland, Maine) and the No. 3 pairing of Reilly Fitgzibbons (Killingworth, Conn.) and Lauren Rahr (Waterford, Conn.) both picked up wins for the Gulls by 8-2 scores.

In No. 1 doubles action, Lauren Candia (Anaheim Hills, Calif.) and Ashley Dallaire (East Bridgewater, Mass.) claimed a hard-fought 8-5 victory over Endicott's Maxine Bergstein (Hingham, Mass.) and Mackenzie Rhodes (Rye, N.H.) to account for the Bison's only win on the evening.

Bergstein went on to make quick work of Emma Carey (Venice, Fla.) at No. 5 singles with a 6-0, 6-0 decision, while Andreasen turned in a 6-1, 6-2 triumph at No. 2 singles over Cristina Szepanski (Winsor Locks, Conn.) to give Endicott a 4-1 advantage in the match.

Rhodes then clinched the victory for the Gulls with a 6-1, 6-3 win against Tiffany Romano (South Windsor, Conn.) in the No. 6 slot.

TOP QUOTE

"All the credit in the world goes to Nichols today and how they played in the match. The 5-1 score isn't indicative of how Nichols played against us," said Endicott women's tennis head coach Jeremy Howard. "I was really excited to see how our team battled through the adversity and came away with the win. We are excited to be playing in the CCC Tournament championship for the fifth straight year on Saturday."

#OhHeyThatsNice

• In last year's CCC championship match, Rhodes earned the deciding win over Nichols with a 6-0, 6-4 victory at No. 6 singles.
• Prior to today's contest, the Gulls had defeated Nichols in the last four CCC Tournament title matches.
• Endicott has won four straight matches (Eastern Nazarene, Gordon, Wentworth, Nichols).
• The Gulls are 7-1 at home this season (only loss came against Colby-Sawyer).

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (11-2) will play No. 3 Roger Williams on Saturday at home in the CCC championship at 1 p.m. Nichols fall season comes to a close at 8-5 overall. 

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