BEVERLY, Mass. – Playing in their spring home opener, the Endicott men's tennis team evened their 2013-14 record to .500 at 5-5 overall and 3-0 in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play after defeating Eastern Nazarene 5-4 on Monday afternoon. The Gulls will look to continue their unbeaten streak in league action on Wednesday when they host Western New England (6-5, 2-1 CCC) for a 3:30 PM start.
Eastern Nazarene dropped to 5-7 (2-2 CCC) on the year and will look to turn it around on Wednesday, April 9th at 3:30 PM as the Lions travel to Salve Regina for CCC action.
Endicott's #1 and #3 doubles pairings helped the Gulls off a 2-1 start before the match switched to singles play. Senior Evan Ross (Worcester, Mass.) and sophomore Michael Dolph (Stratford, Conn.) teamed up to hand their Eastern Nazarene opponents an 8-4 loss at the top doubles flight. The Lions saw their #2 doubles duo of senior Nick Thompson (York, Pa.) and junior Tyler Perron (Plympton, Mass.) even the match at 1-1 with an 8-3 victory over Michael Lauretano (Winchester, Mass.) and Sean McAndrews (Vineyard Haven, Mass.).
In the third doubles match, juniors Timothy Forance (Natick, Mass.) and Eric Gandrup (Sudbury, Mass.) grinded out a 9-7 win over Kevin Paterno (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Sam Son (Wilbraham, Mass.) to hand Endicott a 2-1 advantage going into singles action.
Ross wrapped up the #1 singles match first, defeating Andres Biondi (Barquisimeto, Venezuela) in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 to make it a 3-1 match. McAndrews followed and avenged his doubles loss with taking down Son 6-3, 6-3 to get Endicott one point closer to solidifying their win.
Eastern Nazarene responded, however, with victories at the #2 and #6 singles positions as junior Sam McKay-Corkum (Rehoboth, Mass.) and sophomore Davis Steelman (Darlington, Md.) cut Endicott's lead back down to one at 4-3. McKay-Corkum defeated Forance 6-4, 6-1 and Steelman handed Justin Warshavsky (East Hartford, Conn.) a 6-3, 6-4 loss.
At the #3 singles position, Dolph bested Perron 6-2, 6-2 to put a stamp on the Endicott win by delivering the deciding fifth point. Eastern Nazarene's Paterno would take the final match, #4 singles, over Lauretano in three sets 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 to wrap up Monday's CCC showdown.
