CCC Women's Tennis Tournament Interactive Bracket
DUDLEY, Mass. – For the third straight year playing as the #2 seed in the CCC Tournament, the Endicott women's tennis team traveled to top-seed Nichols and upset the Bison to win a conference championship. The Gulls won 5-1 on Saturday after sweeping doubles and earning wins at the #3 and #4 singles positions to clinch the program's fourth CCC title and automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Endicott (11-3) avenged a regular season loss to Nichols, a 5-4 defeat in Dudley on September 29th, to win their second title under head coach Jeremy Howard, third straight championship, and fourth in the past six seasons. The NCAA Division III Tournament will be played in May of 2014 with the tournament bracket to be released in the spring as well.
In the first portion of Saturday's CCC Championship, Endicott took all three doubles matches to take commanding lead over the Bison. Sophomores Suzie Newman (Dighton, Mass.) and Brittany Potter (Bedford, N.H.) finished first at the #3 position with an 8-4 win followed by junior captains Chrissy Martel (Westbrook, Conn.) and Natalie Egbert (Gorham, Maine) who took down the top Nichols doubles team 8-3.
Junior captain Amy Heacox (Marion, Mass.) and freshman Mackenzie Rhodes (Rye, N.H.) finished their #2 doubles match strong, defeating their Bison opposition 8-6 to send Endicott into singles play with a 3-0 lead.
Newman brought the Blue and Green closer to their conference title with a straight-set 6-0, 6-1 win at the #4 singles flight before Nichols #2 singles player Lindsay Benoit (Holden, Mass.) got the Bison on the board with a 6-2, 6-3 win.
Needing a fifth point to clinch the 2013 CCC Championship, Egbert came through for Endicott at the #3 singles position with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph to end the match. Potter and Rhodes were leading their respective matches when Egbert clinched the match.
