Box Score

DUDLEY, Mass. - The Nichols College women's tennis team advanced to the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship for the fourth-straight season with a 5-1 win over No. 5 Gordon in the semifinal round Thursday afternoon at the Robinson Tennis Courts.

The Bison (11-3) will host No. 2 Endicott for the right to go to the NCAA Tournament for the third-consecutive season. The two-time defending champion Gulls defeated Roger Williams 5-1 in the other semifinal match. Nichols, meanwhile, is seeking its second conference crown in four years and recorded a 5-4 win over Endicott back on Sept. 29.

Nichols No. 2 doubles team of junior Lindsay Benoit (Holden, Mass.) and freshman Emma Carey (Venice, Fla.) scored the first win of the day with an 8-3 win sophomores Lily Drescher (Reading, Mass.) and Tawnie Yeaw (Foothill Ranch, Calif.). Senior Erin Rivers (Bristol, R.I.) and sophomore Michelle Keklik (Stratford, Conn.) posted an 8-5 triumph over seniors Jessie Dupre (North Billerica, Mass.) and Abby Caron (Bedford, N.H.) at No. 3 doubles to put the Bison ahead 2-0 in the match.

Perhaps the turning point in the match was at No. 1 doubles, where senior Anna Dyakiv (Amsterdam, N.Y.) and freshman Cristina Szepanski (Windsor Locks, Conn.) earned the third doubles point for Nichols by virtue of their 8-6 win over the freshmen duo of Caroline Hall (Corona, Calif.) and Cindi Flynn (Sunset Beach, Calif).  

Junior Kelsey Peterson (Fairbanks, Alaska) staked Nichols to a 4-0 lead with 6-1, 6-1 win over Dupre at No. 5 singles. Following Dyakiv's 6-1, 6-1 loss to Hall at No. 1 singles, Benoit closed out the match with a 6-1, 7-5 win at No. 2 singles over Yeaw.

"This was a solid win that put us in the position we wanted to be in at the beginning of the season, which was to play for the conference championship" said Nichols head coach Paul Brower. "Gordon is a much improved team, and we had to play well to beat them. Our No. 3 doubles team saved their best match for today, and Anna serving out the No. 1 doubles match was huge for us. It gave us all of the momentum heading into singles. I'm very happy for Kelsey Peterson, who has been a rock for us all year. Emma Carey played her best match of the year, and Lindsay Benoit did what she does and closed it out for us."

Szepanski (No. 3 singles), Carey (No. 4 singles), and junior Katie Malloy (Norwell, Mass.) (No. 6 singles) each saw their match go unfinished. Gordon finished its season 9-7.