Men’s Tennis Tops Western New England in CCC Quarterfinals
QUINCY, Mass.- The fourth-seeded Eastern Nazarene men's tennis team advanced to the Commonwealth Coast Conference semifinals for the third consecutive season with a 5-2 victory over fifth-seeded Western New England University Monday afternoon.
The Lions improve to 9-9 on the season with the win while the Golden Bears drop to 8-9 overall.
The home team picked up a pair of doubles victories to hold a 2-1 lead at the start of singles action.
Kevin Paterno (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Andres Biondi (Barquisimeto, Venezuela) downed Western New England's PJ Nassar and Peter LeFrancois 8-5 at the No. 2 position.
Davis Steelman (Darlington, Md.) and Nick Thompson (York, Pa.) edged John Mindek and Tyler Unwin at the third doubles spot 8-6.
Eastern Nazarene's No. 1 doubles duo of Sam McKay-Corkum (Rehoboth, Mass.) and Tyler Perron (Plympton, Mass.) fell to Andres Otero and Alexander Sause 8-5.
The Lions notched three singles wins to secure the victory.
McKay-Corkum coasted by Otero at the No. 1 singles slot 6-2, 6-1 to give the hosts a 3-1 lead in the match.
Biondi suffered a 6-2, 7-5 setback at the second singles position to Sause as Western New England cut the deficit to 3-2.
Eastern Nazarene grabbed a 4-2 advantage as Steelman posted a 6-4, 6-3 win at the fifth singles spot.
Paterno clinched the victory for the Lions, prevailing at the No. 4 singles slot over Unwin. Paterno claimed the first set 6-3 before outlasting Unwin in a tiebreaker to capture the second set 7-6.
Up next, Eastern Nazarene will battle top-seeded Nichols in the semifinal round of the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament April 29 at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.