Men’s Tennis Endures 7-2 Loss to Defending CCC Champ Nichols
QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's tennis team suffered a 7-2 setback to Nichols Thursday afternoon at the ENC Tennis Courts.
The Lions fall to 7-6 on the year and 1-3 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with the result. The Bison improve to 13-5 overall and 5-1 in league matches with the win.
The hosts grabbed one doubles victory and trailed 2-1 at the start of singles play.
Sam McKay-Corkum (Rehoboth, Mass.) and Vladislav Tolmachev (Perm, Russia) posted an 8-5 win at the No. 1 doubles position over Brandon Roode and Austin Dubois.
Sam Son (Wilbraham, Mass.) and Davis Steelman (Darlington, Md.) dropped an 8-5 decision at the second spot to James Smith and Josh Halpern. Andres Biondi (Barquisimeto, Venezuela) and Tyler Perron (Plympton, Mass.) absorbed an 8-3 loss to Joan Castillo and Cam Lewis in the third doubles match.
The guests claimed five singles wins to lock up their fourth consecutive victory.
Son earned Eastern Nazarene's lone singles win on the day, prevailing at the No. 4 slot. The senior dropped the first set 7-6 and led 6-5 in the second when his opponent retired.
McKay-Corkum suffered a hard-fought loss at the No. 2 position, falling to Smith in a third-set super-tiebreaker. The senior won the opening frame 6-2 before dropping the second set 6-4 and the tiebreaker 10-5.
Tolmachev fell at the No. 1 singles match 6-3, 6-2 to Roode and Kevin Paterno (Buenos Aires, Argentina) endured a straight-set loss at the fourth spot to Halpern.
Steelman absorbed a 6-1, 6-4 setback to Jake Zapatka at the No. 5 position while Perron saw his six-match winning-streak halted with a loss at the sixth slot to Dubois.
Up next, Eastern Nazarene continues conference play April 18 at Western New England.