Gulls Edged by Salve Regina, 5-4 in CCC Finals

Newport, RI--The women's tennis team lost to Salve Regina, 5-4, on Saturday in the finals of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) playoffs.

The Gulls, who finish the season with a 14-2 record and are runner-ups for the second year in a row, posted wins at 3rd doubles and 3rd-5th singles. Up 4-3 with two matches still in progress, the Gulls were unable to close out the match. "We have nothing to hang our heads about. We fought hard up until the final point," said Coach Mark Herlihy. "Naturally, we're disappointed to have come up short, but the loss in no way diminishes all that we accomplished this year."

The Gulls dug a little hole for themselves by winning only one of the three doubles matches. Brianne Cogan and Carli Conners, both 1st-year players, won at 3rd doubles, 8-4. But the 1st doubles team of Blythe Langley and Lauren Gibbons and the 2nd doubles team of Tessy Garcia and Melissa Marrone each lost 4-8. "I really thought we might be able to sweep the doubles, given how well we played against Gordon in the semis," said Herlihy. "But on Saturday Salve was a little steadier than we were at 1st and 2nd doubles."

The Gulls, however, roared back in singles and took a 4-3 lead at one point. Lauren Gibbons avenged a regular season loss to Salve's 3rd singles player with an impressive 6-3, 6-1 win. Tessy Garcia also won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, in her 4th singles match. Brianne Cogan captured the Gulls' third win in singles with a hard fought 6-2, 6-4 win at 5th singles.

The Gulls were very competitive in the three other singles matches. At 1st singles, Blythe Langley battled valiantly before succumbing, 2-6, 5-7. At 2nd singles, Melissa Marrone fought off two match points in the second set of her match before losing 2-6, 5-7. Conners, playing 6th singles, also played well in her match, a three-set, back-and-forth affair, before falling 4-6, 6-4, 4-6.

In 2002, the Gulls lost in the finals 5-4 to Roger Williams in another heartbreaker. "We've been so close the last two years we could taste it. But we expect to be in the hunt for the championship in the foreseeable future," said Herlihy.

"We'll sorely miss our three seniors due to graduation this year, co-captains Julie Castle and Melissa Marrone, as well as Tessy Garcia," said Herlihy "Each had tremendous careers at Endicott. But we have a nucleus of very talented players who will return. I'm optimistic about the future."