Endicott Selected Third in CCC Men’s Tennis Coaches’ Preseason Poll

2014 CCC Men's Tennis Preseason Coaches' Poll

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) released their annual Preseason Men's Tennis Coaches' Poll which slotted Endicott at #3 in the 2014 standings. The Gulls come in behind reining CCC Champions Nichols who earned 81 total points and swept all first place votes with nine, while Roger Williams rolled in with 72 points, followed by Endicott with 59. Voting for the preseason poll was conducted among the league's head men's tennis coaches.

Eastern Nazarene (56) and Western New England (45) tab the #4 and #5 spots while Gordon (34), Wentworth (28), Salve Regina (16) and Curry (14) round out the remaining spots to wrap up the nine slots.

Endicott enters the 2014 season looking to compete for the programs first appearance in the CCC Championship under the helm of second year head coach Jeremy Howard. The Gulls have advanced to three straight semifinal appearances and will look to take it to the next level this spring.

Coach Howard is eager to get the season rolling and compete, "We would like to finish higher than we have the last couple years, we did not compete our best against Roger Williams and Eastern Nazarene last year and one of our goals is to finish ahead of at least one of them if not both this year" says Howard.

Under the guidance of Howard, the leadership of this squad will be in the hands of tri-captains, senior Evan Ross, and juniors Eric Gandrup and Justin Warshavsky. "We have a really good combination of captains, they all work extremely hard and lead by example." Endicott also has a large group of upperclassman that has really taken on a leadership role as a whole. "We lost three starters and our upperclassmen are really stepping up knowing that their time playing Endicott tennis is winding down" expresses Howard.

Ross will enter his final season ready to play his best tennis yet after earning an All-CCC Honorable Mention nod last season. Ross has grown as a player and a leader during his time at Endicott as Coach Howard reflects, "Evan has really transformed into a vocal leader which will help him guide this team to where we want to be." Ross played well in the number two slot in 2013 finishing at 4-7 in singles and will look to improve on that moving into this spring.

Following behind Ross will be junior Timothy Forance who posted the best record for the Blue and Green last year finishing overall  at 13-5, with an impressive 9-2 record in the number four spot. The junior was also an All-CCC Honorable Mention honoree after posting an impressive 6-2 conference record in 2013 along with sophomore Michael Dolph who showed an impressive rookie campaign in 2013 going 9-6 overall.

Rounding out the singles spots will be Warshavsky who went 4-0 in the CCC last year while finishing at 7-4 overall, junior Michael Lauretano who also posted a strong sophomore campaign going 5-4 overall, Grandrup, sophomores Clay Arnold and Tyler Lemieux along with rookie Sean McAndrews.

After losing the team's top doubles duo to graduation the Gulls will look to Ross and Dolph to take the reins as the pair boasted an impressive 7-3 overall record while going a perfect 5-0 in the number three slot last season.

With the mix of his upperclassman and the integration of newcomers, highlighted by rookie Sean McAndrews Coach Howard and the Gulls are ready to see some court time, "We are eager to see some live action and see where we stand. We have been working hard to transition of style of play and are ready to grind out the points" says Howard.

The Gulls will start off with season with a set of three non-conference matches to help prepare the Blue and Green for the tough road ahead in CCC play. First, on March 26^th, they will see a competitive Eastern Nazarene team that finished the 2013 season in the #3 slot before losing in the semifinals to the eventual CCC Champion, Nichols.  In the next two days after that Endicott will then travel to Salem State on the 27^th and host 2013 CCC Finalist Roger Williams on the 29^th.