DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols College women's tennis team advanced to the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship for the fourth-straight season with a 5-1 win over No. 5 Gordon in the semifinal round Thursday afternoon at the Robinson Tennis Courts. The Scots dropped all three doubles matches, but outpaced the Bison in singles' play before falling just short.
The Bison (11-3) will host No. 2 Endicott for the right to go to the NCAA Tournament for the third-consecutive season. The two-time defending champion Gulls defeated Roger Williams 5-1 in the other semifinal match. Nichols, meanwhile, is seeking its second conference crown in four years and recorded a 5-4 win over Endicott back on Sept. 29.
Nichols No. 2 doubles team of junior Lindsay Benoit (Holden, Mass.) and freshman Emma Carey (Venice, Fla.) scored the first win of the day with an 8-3 win sophomores Lily Drescher (Reading, Mass.) and Tawnie Yeaw (Foothill Ranch, Calif.). Senior Erin Rivers (Bristol, R.I.) and sophomore Michelle Keklik (Stratford, Conn.) posted an 8-5 triumph over seniors Jessie Dupre (North Billerica, Mass.) and Abby Caron (Bedford, N.H.) at No. 3 doubles to put the Bison ahead 2-0 in the match.
Keklik and Rivers avenged their loss against the Gordon duo, which had beaten them soundly earlier in the season. Dupre and Caron played extremely well after getting down early in the match, but Rivers' serving proved to be the difference down the stretch.
At first doubles, Caroline Hall (Corona, Calif.) and Cindi Flynn (Sunset Beach, Calif.) looked to grab the first point of the day for the Scots. Hall and Flynn jumped out to an early lead, but they could not hold off Anna Dyavik and Cristina Szepanski for long. The Bison's top team knotted the score late in the match at six games apiece and took the final two games in deuce to complete the doubles sweep.
The Bison were pumped after the sweep, but things would be far from easy in singles play.
After Kelsey Peterson (Fairbanks, Alaska) pushed Nichols to a 4-0 lead with 6-1, 6-1 win over Dupre at No. 5 singles, the Scots fought back in a big way. Hall cruised to an easy win over Dyavkik (6-1, 6-1)—handing the senior only her second conference loss of her career. Both of those losses have come at the hands of the CCC Rookie of the Year, Hall.
Despite a strong surge in the second set, Yeaw came just a game short from sending her match with Benoit to a third set. Benoit rallied off the last three games to beat Yeaw 7-5 in the second and clinch the match for the Bison.
Caron took the Bison for surprise in the sixth spot, as she won the first set in a tiebreak and was leading handily in the second set when the match was called. Drescher backed her up strong performance from Tuesday with another career match at third singles. She narrowly dropped a first set and was mere points away from sending the match to a decisive third.
Flynn also fought hard in her fourth singles flight. The freshman responded well after a tough first set and had set point in the second when the match was finalized.
Gordon's young nucleus has plenty to be proud of during their 2013 campaign, which set recent records for wins and postseason awards. The Scots finish the year 9-7 despite starting underclassmen at most starting positions for a majority of the season. They will look to build upon their success as the foundation continues to develop for a blossoming team.
