BEVERLY, Mass. – Before rain and thunderstorms rolled through the Endicott campus, the Gulls women's tennis team was able to secure a 5-2 victory in their CCC opening match over Roger Williams thanks in large part to a gritty 9-8 (7-4) #2 doubles win for senior captain Natalie Egbert (Gorham, Maine) and her partner sophomore Brittany Potter (Bedford, N.H.) and a hard-fought 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-0 three-set #3 singles triumph for freshman Dayna Reilly (Swansea, Mass.).
Endicott improved to 2-1 (1-0 CCC) on the 2014-15 season and ran their recent win-streak over the Hawks to seven matches dating back to the 2010 season. The Gulls have a few days off before the highly-anticipated match up with CCC rival Nichols, their opponent in each of the last three conference championships, on Tuesday, September 9th at home.
After a win by senior captain Amy Heacox (Marion, Mass.) and Reilly at the top doubles position, 8-4, and an 8-6 loss by sophomore Mackenzie Rhodes (Rye, N.H.) and freshman Maxine Bergstein (Hingham, Mass.) to the Roger Williams freshman duo of Kathryn Hughes (Westford, Mass.) and Gabrielle Riley (Barnstable, Mass.), Egbert and Potter battled their #2 doubles opposition to give the Blue and Green a 2-1 advantage heading into singles play.
Gulls junior Suzie Newman (Dighton, Mass.) handled her #4 singles opponent in straight sets without giving up a game to push the lead up to 3-1 and was followed by Egbert's 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory at the #2 flight.
Needing one more point to secure the victory, Hawks junior Lauren Schmidt (South Windsor, Conn.) kept her team in it with a #1 singles win by a score of 7-5, 6-3 over Heacox to make it a 4-2 match.
Reilly, with a 1-1 record at #3 singles heading into today's conference opener, made her presence felt by overcoming a second-set tiebreaker loss to win 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-0 and hand Endicott the home win.
As the weather worsened, the #5 and #6 singles matches that featured Potter and Rhodes were called in the third set with both players leading their opponents. Both players dropped their first sets, with Potter rebounding 6-7 (4-7), 6-0, 4-0 and Rhodes fighting in a 4-6, 6-0, 3-0 match.
