BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's tennis team opened their 2014-15 season with a 7-2 win over NEWMAC opponent Springfield on Monday afternoon by taking a 2-1 lead after doubles play and converting the first three singles matches into points to secure the team victory. The Gulls lineup featured a few new faces including freshmen Chris Kirkpatrick (Newburyport, Mass.) and Nicholas Eherts (New Milford, Conn.) as well as junior Eric Pierce (Barrington, R.I.) who all secured singles wins.
Endicott's (1-0) next match will be on Saturday, October 4th at 1:00 pm at NCAA Division II member Stonehill College. Springfield (0-2) continues their tour of CCC opponents with a home match against Western New England starting at 4:00 pm.
All three doubles matches between the Gulls and Pride were highly-contested with Endicott coming out on top in two out of the three flights. Egerts and fellow freshman Matthew Doherty (Plymouth, Mass.) wrapped up their #3 doubles match by a score of 8-5. Pierce and sophomore Sean McAndrews (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) edged their Pride opponents 8-6 at the #2 doubles position to help Endicott take a 2-0 lead.
Springfield would get a point before singles play began as sophomores Justin Danielwicz (Portland, Conn.) and Tanner DeVarennes (Lee, Mass.) fought off Endicott's #1 doubles duo of Kirkpatrick and junior Michael Dolph (Stratford, Conn.) 9-7.
Endicott would capture the first three singles flights thanks to straight-set wins by Eherts (6-3, 6-0 at #6 singles), Pierce (6-1, 6-1 at #3 singles), and McAndrews (6-2, 6-2 at #4 singles). Springfield's Danielwicz took down Dolph at #2 singles 6-2, 7-5 to cut down Endicott's lead to 5-2.
The final two singles matches needed three sets to decide a winner as Kirkpatrick won 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 (10-5) at #1 singles and senior captain Justin Warshavsky (East Hartford, Conn.) battled Springfield junior Joshua Robinson (Southold, N.Y.) to a 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 1-0 (10-5) triumph at the #5 singles position.
