The Nichols College Men's Tennis team captured the championship in its inaugural season in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with a win in the final match of the day to defeat defending champion Salve Regina. The result completes a four year climb for a program that had won just won match in 1992 and has been on a upward trajectory over the last four years. As freshman, the class of 1996 won 3 matches and increased its winning ways each year, culminating in a record tying 10 wins this season.
Championship Tournament Detail
The Bison stormed into the CCC tournament on a six game winning streak including an undefeated run through the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The format of the tournament consisted of 4 singles flights and one doubles flight. Two points were awarded to the school that won each match. The team with the most points at the end of the tournament would be awarded the championship. Salve Regina entered as the defending champion.
Nichols entrants were as follows:
#1 Singles Jeremy Graves (#1 seed)
#2 Singles John Pileggi
#3 Singles Todd Mcann (#2 seed)
#4 Singles Chris Larson (#1 seed)
Doubles - Phil Snow/Alex Simmons (#2 seed)
Quarterfinal Round
The Bison burst out of the starting gates, with everyone but Pileggi winning their first round match in straight sets. By (bad) luck of the draw, Pileggi faced off with the #1 seed in his flight and fought valiantly before falling 6-0, 6-4.
Semi-final Round
Graves and McCann made quick work of their opponents, losing just 3 games between them. Those wins set the stage for two pivotal matches that positioned the Bison for a chance at the title.
In the #4 singles flight, Chris Larson found himself down 5-3 in the first set before forcing a tie-breaker. In the tie-breaker, Larson fell behind 5-1, just two points away from losing the set. However, he fought back to win seven of the next eight points to take the first set, and after a rehydration break, took care of business in the second set 6-2.
Fun Fact - In a testament to how fast McCann won and how long and hard fought Larson’s match was, McCann won so quickly that even though he started his match at the same time as Larson, he was done with his two set victory before Larson finished his first set.
At this point in the day, Salve and Nichols were running neck and neck and a lucky upset went the Bison’s way, when the Salve #2 singles player lost to a lower seeded entry. That loss, combined with the results of all the other matches, put a premium on the semifinal doubles showdown that featured the first head to head match up of Nichols and Salve on the day. A back and forth first set found Phil Snow and Alex Simmons inching ahead with a 7-5 victory. When they triumphantly advanced to the final round by completing the win with a 6-2 second set Nichols took control of its path to the championship.
Championship Round
In the doubles flight final, Snow & Simmons fell in a second set tiebreaker (9-7), and set the stage for a Finals showdown for the title. Nichols and Salve were tied at 16 points and would face off in the #1, #3 and #4 singles flights. Whoever won two of three matches would be the champion.
Jeremy Graves continued his stellar play by winning the #1 Singles flight with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Owen Curtin of Salve Regina. In the #3 singles flight, Todd McCann, who had not lost a set all year, lost his match to John Picozzi of Salve Regina. This meant that the last remaining match of the day would determine the CCC Champion.
Chris Larson faced off against David Hawkes of Salve Regina in the #4 Singles flight final. The tension was high throughout the match as both players stayed on serve until the 10th game. Leading 5-4, Larson was able to finally grab hold of the match by breaking Hawkes to win the first set 6-4 and then win the first game of the next set.
The finalists continued to hold serve until the sixth game, where Larson once again broke Hawkes serve to go up 4-2. The Salve player would not go away without a fight. Larson went up 15-40 in the seventh game, but found himself on the wrong end of a game that extended to 7 deuces. The protracted service game ultimately took too much out of Hawkes, as Larson could see the finish line. The Bison captain turned up the aggression, attacking the net to win eight of the last 10 points to close out the match and deliver the championship to Nichols College.
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