DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols College women's tennis team claimed its third straight Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) championship title on Saturday afternoon with a hard-fought 5-3 win over Endicott at the Robinson Tennis Courts.
Nichols opened the match with a sweep in doubles taking the No. 1 (8-0), No. 2 (8-6), and the No. 3 (9-7) positions, respectively, in that order.
Endicott fought back in singles play, however, as Fernanda Trevino (Dallas, Texas) notched a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 4 and Gretta Hartman (Glastonbury, Conn.) turned in a 6-1, 6-2 triumph at No. 3 to cut into the deficit at 3-2.
The Bison then bounced back at No. 5 singles (6-3, 6-2) to bump their advantage back to 4-2 before Justine Hoover (Wallingford, Conn.) inched Endicott one point closer (4-3) via a 6-1, 7-5 victory at No. 2.
Ultimately, the CCC championship was decided at No. 1 singles where the three-time reigning CCC Player of the Year Amarie Settiwongse (Bangkok, Thailand) came away with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 win to aid the Bison to their third straight conference title.
TOP QUOTE
"I'm proud of the way we battled in today's match from start to finish," said Endicott women's tennis head coach Jeremy Howard. "We left everything we had out their on the courts today and that's all that you can ask for as a coach."
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Nichols captured its fourth CCC championship in program history (2010, 2016-18).
- Today's matchup between Endicott and Nichols marked the third straight meeting in the CCC Championship between the two squads and seventh overall since 2011.
- Hayley Barnett (Marlboro, N.J.) is the only student-athlete in the conference to take a set away from Settiwongse this season.
- Gillian Freter (Scituate, Mass.) was deadlocked in a tight match at No. 6 singles (6-1, 1-6, 2-1) before the match concluded
WHAT'S NEXT
Nichols (13-0) will represent the CCC in the NCAA Division III Tournament later this spring. Endicott sees its fall season come to a close at 12-2 overall.
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(Photo Credit - David Le '10)