Defending champion Seahawks downed by Lions
QUINCY, Mass. - The Eastern Nazarene men's tennis team won their first The Commonwealth Coast Conference match of the 2011 season in convincing fashion Saturday as the Lions overtook defending league champion Salve Regina University, 7-2.
Salve Regina opened its first TCCC match of 2011 with a #1 doubles win as Brian Castrichini and Aaron Isch defeated Austin Steelman and Brandon Lum, 8-5. Eastern Nazarene quickly responded winning each of the remaining doubles matches to take a 2-1 advantage into singles.
ENC's Tim Luz and Eric Johnson took their doubles match over Zachary Rosenfeld and Colin Gunning 9-8 in a tiebreak before Nick Thompson and Ryan Robbins gave ENC a 2-1 lead defeating James Diamantopoulos and Brian Sweeney 8-1.
In singles play, Eastern Nazarene got off to a positive start winning the first two match ups. Steelman and Rosenfeld traded points throughout as the pair split the first two sets, but it was Steelman that came out on top with the win in the deciding set, 6-4.
In the number two slot, ENC's Lum won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, to give the Lions a commanding 4-1 lead.
Salve Regina fought answered back in the #3 match as Isch handled Luz 6-1, 6-1, but Johnson closed the match out for ENC winning over Gunning, 6-1, 6-2.
Saturday's win evens up Eastern Nazarene's record on the season at 3-3 and moves them to 1-0 in conference play while Salve Regina drops to 0-3 and 0-1 in TCC play.
Eastern Nazarene will try to keep their two match winning streak alive on Wednesday as they travel to TCCC opponent Colby Sawyer College for a 3:30 p.m. match. Salve Regina will be looking to get on the board in conference play on Wednesday as they host Western New England at 4:00 p.m.
Courtesy of Eastern Nazarene sports information