BEVERLY, Mass.—Gordon Men's Tennis struggled to get anything going against Nichols in a 6-3 loss to the Bison at the Bass River Tennis Club on Saturday afternoon. The Bison took advantages in both singles and doubles play to clinch a first round bye for next week's Commonwealth Coast Conference playoffs.
 
Zach Hall (Sugar Land, Texas) and Mason Casady (Santa Barbara, Calif.) ran away with an 8-2 win at first doubles to start things off. The Bison rallied back at second doubles with five straight game wins as James Smith (Monte Sereno, Calif.) and Igor Markowski (Paris, France) won 8-4.
 
Nichols was able to take the important 2-1 lead following doubles action when Josh Halpern (Secaucus, N.J.) and Jake Zapatka (Wethersfield, Conn.) outlasted Gordon three's, 8-6.
 
Zapatka put the Bison in control of the match with a 6-1, 6-0 win at fourth singles over Michael D'Antuono (Mapleville, R.I.), but Nathan Lookwhy (Westborough, Mass.) brought things back with a straight-set win at the third flight.
 
Blake Norton (Stratford, Conn.) blanked Hall in the first set and kept his distance in the second, 6-3, to hand the Gordon senior his first loss of the year.
 
Markowski brought things home for the visitors with a gritty 6-4, 6-3 win at five over Peter Godwin (Manchester, Conn.).
 
Gordon's second win of the day came from Joe Daugherty (Norfolk, Va.), who won in straight sets.
 
The Fighting Scots (14-4, 5-2 CCC) close out the CCC regular season on Tuesday at Curry with the No. 4 seed already wrapped up. Nichols (15-4, 6-1 CCC) goes out of conference tomorrow against NESCAC foe Middlebury before finishing conference play at home against Eastern Nazarene.


Nichols 6, Gordon 3
04/23/16 at Beverly, Mass. (Bass River Tennis Club) 

Singles competition

1. Blake Norton (NC) def. Zach Hall (GC) 6-0, 6-3

2. James Smith (NC) def. Mason Casady (GC) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8)

3. Nate Lookwhy (GC) def. Josh Halpern (NC) 6-4, 6-2

4. Jake Zapatka (NC) def. Mike D'Antuono (GC) 6-1, 6-0

5. Igor Markowski (NC) def. Peter Godwin (GC) 6-4, 6-3

6. Joe Daugherty (GC) def. Aidan Stuart (NC) 6-2, 7-5

 

Doubles competition

1. Zach Hall/Mason Casady (GC) def. Blake Norton/Aidan Stuart (NC) 8-2

2. James Smith/Igor Markowski (NC) def. Nate Lookwhy/Peter Godwin (GC) 8-4

3. Josh Halpern/Jake Zapatka (NC) def. Mike D'Antuono/Joe Daugherty (GC) 8-6

 

Match Notes

Nichols 15-4 (6-1 CCC)

Gordon 14-4 (5-2 CCC)

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,3,1,5,6,2)

Official: Helen Najarian T-3:00 A-40