Men’s Tennis Clipped by Nichols 5-3 in CCC Championship
DUDLEY, Mass.- The second-seeded Eastern Nazarene College men's tennis team dropped a 5-3 decision at top-seeded Nichols in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship match Saturday afternoon.
The Lions finish the year with a 17-4 overall record while the Bison improve to 19-3 and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh-consecutive season.
Eastern Nazarene grabbed a pair of doubles victories to claim a 2-1 lead.
Alex Partyka (Moscow, Russia) and Laurent Ruttkowski (Castrop-Rauxel, Germany) topped Blake Norton and August Moeller 8-4 at the No. 1 doubles position.
Henry Siercke (Hamburg, Germany) and Santiago Camero (Valencia, Venezuela) posted an 8-4 win at the No. 2 doubles spot against Guilherme Barbosa and Peter Coletti.
Julius Opaschowski (Hamburg, Germany) and Kaden Swarr (Brighton, Colo.) fell 8-4 to Brandon Howard and Igor Markowski at the No. 3 slot.
Nichols notched four singles victories to capture its seventh-straight CCC Tournament title.
Partyka cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 victory at the No. 1 singles position to extend the Lions' lead to 3-1.
Kyle Pierson (Redding, Calif.) suffered a 6-0, 6-1 setback to Jack Donaldson at the No. 6 spot as the Bison trimmed the deficit to 3-2.
Ruttkowski absorbed a 6-1, 6-2 loss at the No. 3 singles slot to Norton as Nichols knotted the match at 3-3.
Camero dropped a 6-2, 6-4 decision in the No. 4 singles match to Brandon Stewart as the Bison seized a 4-3 edge.
Opaschowski fell in a three-set battle at the No. 5 singles position as Moeller clinched the match for Nichols. Opaschowski prevailed 6-3 in the opening frame. Moeller stormed back to claim the second 6-1 and outlasted Opaschowski 7-5 in the third set.
Siercke trailed 5-1 in the third set at the No. 2 spot when the match reached decision. The sophomore conceded the first set 6-2 and bounced back to win the second frame 6-3.