Endicott 4, Nichols 5; Gulls falter in battle of unbeaten CCC tennis teams

BEVERLY, Mass. - Needing to sweep all three doubles matches to narrowly defeat Nichols in a match up of the CCC's last two unbeaten conference teams, the Endicott women's tennis team came up short and lost 5-4 to the Bison at home.

The Blue and Green, winners of nine straight matches dating back to September 8th, dropped to 10-2 (6-1 CCC) on the season while Nichols won their sixth match in-a-row and remain undefeated in league action with an overall record of 9-4 (6-0 CCC). 

The schedule of the match was turned upside down with singles play coming before doubles due to the change in location of the match from Endicott's outdoor courts to the indoor confines of Bass River Tennis Club.  The Gulls captured the first singles match of the day, a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory at the #4 flight by sophomore Amy Heacox (Marion, Mass.) before Nichols won four of the next five matches to take a 4-2 lead heading into doubles.  

Bison senior Megan Woodruff (Morris, Conn.) edged out Gulls senior Gina Pinciaro (Beverly, Mass.) 7-6 (7-5) in set one before taking set two 6-3 in #5 singles.  Gulls sophomore Natalie Egbert (Gorham, Maine) put Endicott back on top temporarily with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win at the #3 position, but Nichols grabbed #2, #1, and #6 singles to take the advantage.

Nichols sophomore Lindsay Benoit (Holden, Mass.) won 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 at the #2 singles match, junior Anna Dyakiv (Amsterdam, N.Y.) won 1-6, 6-1, 6-0 at the top position, and sophomore Kate Malloy (Norwell, Mass.) came back to win 0-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 at the #6 flight.

In doubles action, the Endicott duo of freshman Brittany Potter (Bedford, N.H.) and Heacox continued their unbeaten season with a convincing 8-2 win at #3 doubles.  The Blue and Green, however, dropped #2 doubles 8-2 to Dyakiv and Nichols senior Jillian McQuiggan (Weymouth, Mass.) to give up the deciding fifth point.

Endicott did claim an 8-6 #1 doubles win by Egbert and sophomore Chrissy Martel (Westbrook, Conn.), as they improved to 5-1 in CCC matches this season.

Endicott looks to return to their winning ways on Saturday, October 6th with a road match against North Shore Cup and CCC rival Gordon at 12:00 pm in Wenham.  Nichols hosts Roger Williams on Friday, October 5th at 4:00 pm.