Gulls Finish Their 2004 Season

Beverly, MA-- The Gulls had a tough 2-7 loss against Salve Regina University in the semifinals of the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament. The 5th seeded Gulls matched up against the first, seed on a cold, blustery afternoon in Newport, RI.

EC captured a win in \# 1 doubles with Blythe Langley and Lauren Gibbons taking on tough SRU opponents. Blythe and Lauren were beaten by them during the regular season and were determined to get a win this time. They had a very close match with some very long hard, earned points. "Blythe and Lauren communicate well on the court and never give up," Head Coach Gale Bacon said. "They won 8-6, and played their best doubles match of the season."

The \#2 doubles team, Carli Conners and Brianne Cogan had a tough match against a team they beat in the regular season. They lost their match at 4-8 but fought hard for every point.

The third doubles team, Stephanie Branch and Nicole Leveille battled hard but were overcome by a very strong Salve team, falling 2-6.

The Gulls' singles winner was Brianne Cogan who had an exciting three set match against Marissa Giaimo. Bri won her first set at 6-3 easily with her deep top spin ground strokes but her SRU opponent came back quickly in the second set. Brianne was behind 2-6, but rallied in the third set and became steadier and more determined taking the third set 6-4.

Blythe had a hard fought match against SRU's Michelle Kennedy with long baseline, back-and-forth rallies. Blythe was neck and neck in the first set before succumbing at 5-7, and lost the second set 2-6.

The Gulls fought hard in the other singles matches but Salve Regina has a formidable team of players and our \# 2 singles player Lauren Gibbons gave it her all but was overcome 2-6,1-6. Third singles Carli played a great match but lost at 2-6, 3-6. Fifth singles Stephanie lost 3-6, 3-6 and Nicole lost in sixth singles 0-6, 1-6.

This was the Gulls last match of the 2004 season and the team hopes to return next season with a team of very talented players and a few new strong recruits.

"We would like to say good-bye to our seniors Bridget Poulsen and Eulalia Zukas and thank them for all their support throughout the 2004 season," Coach Bacon said.