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Endicott Bows Out of CCC Tournament with 5-0 Loss to Nichols in the Semifinals

Endicott Bows Out of CCC Tournament with 5-0 Loss to Nichols in the Semifinals

BEVERLY, Mass.- In the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) semifinals for the fifth consecutive year, the third seeded Endicott men's tennis team saw their season come to an end as the Gulls fell to the #2 seed Nichols 5-0.  Endicott ends its season with an 11-7 record overall as Nichols improves to 16-5 and advances to the CCC Championship to take on #1 Roger Williams as the Hawks defeated #4 Gordon 5-0.

The tightest battle of the day in doubles action came at #1 doubles as Endicott's Christopher Kirkpatrick (Newburyport, Mass.) and Michael Dolph (Stratford, Conn.) fell to Nichols' Brandon Roode (Griswold, Conn.) and Austin DuBois (Simsbury, Conn.) 8-6. Both doubles teams had received All-CCC First Team honors this week as Kirkpatrick and Dolph fall to 12-6 on the season as a doubles team while Roode/DuBois improved to 7-2.

The two other doubles contests saw Eric Pierce (Barrington, R.I.) and Eric Gandrup (Sudbury, Mass.) fall 8-2 at #2 doubles to James Smith (Monte Sereno, Calif.) and Josh Halpern (Seacaucus, N.J.) while Michael Lauretano (Winchester, Mass.) and Justin Warshavsky (East Hartford, Conn.) fell to Joan Castillo (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) and Cam Lewis (Bolton, Conn.) 8-3 at #3.

Endicott, needing to win five of six singles matches to win, would fall at #1 and #6 to close the match.  Eric Pierce fell to Roode 6-0, 6-1 at #1 singles while Warshavsky fell to DuBois 6-3, 6-3 at #6.  In unfinished singles matches, Dolph was even with Smith at one set a piece after Smith claimed the first set 6-0 before Dolph took the second 6-2.  Nick Eherts (New Milford, Conn.) was up one set on Zapatka after taking the first by a 6-3 score as the match was stopped in the second after Nichols clinched the victory.

With the loss, the Gulls end their 2015 campaign with an 11-7 record, the program's most wins since the 2010-11 season in which Endicott finished 11-8.  The 11-7 record is also the program's best win percentage (.611) since the 2008-09 season as third year head coach Jeremy Howard saw four of his players receive All-CCC honors.  Those post-season accolades were highlighted by Kirkpatrick's CCC Rookie of the Year and First Team nod at #1 singles and #1 doubles.