Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. – Graduate student David Drucker (Bellmore, N.Y.) and senior Justin DeLuca (Mashpee, Mass.) completed the Commonwealth Coast Conference regular season undefeated at both doubles and singles as the regionally-ranked Nichols College men's tennis team clinched the second seed in the upcoming CCC Men's Tennis Championship and will host one of the semifinals next Wednesday courtesy of a 9-0 victory over visiting Endicott in a match played at Assumption College on Wednesday afternoon. The Bison, currently 18th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) regional rankings, improve to 15-5 overall and 7-1 in conference play. The Gulls earned the fourth seed as they finished the regular season 10-7 on the year and 5-3 in the loop and will entertain fifth-seeded Western New England on Satiuday at 1:00 p.m.
 
Sophomore Brandon Roode (Griswold, Conn.) and first-year Eduardo Irizarry (Lajas, Puerto Rico) raced out to an 8-1 victory at the top flight as they topped seniors Jake Cohen (Barrington, R.I.) and Olivier Joggi (Stoneham, Mass.). Drucker and senior DeLuca followed as they took down freshman Michael Dolph (Stratford, Conn.) and junior Evan Ross (Worcester, Mass.) 8-3 at the second flight. The win also saw DeLuca wrap up his second consecutive undefeated season in conference action and Drucker earn his 30th career CCC doubles victory. Rookies Carlos De La Cruz (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) and Josh Halpern (Secaucus, N.J.) ended the doubles session with an 8-3 triumph over sophomores Timothy Forance (Natick, Mass.) and Michael Lauretano (Winchester, Mass.) at the third flight.
 
DeLuca (6-3, 6-1) and Drucker (6-2, 6-2) each boasted an 8-0 CCC record following their singles wins at the first and fourth flights, respectively. Roode blanked Ross, 6-0, 6-0 at the second flight and Halpern cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Lauretano at the sixth flight. Irizarry posted a 6-1, 6-3 win at the third flight as he improved to 10-0 this spring in singles action.
 
With Nichols ahead 8-0, all eyes were on De La Cruz and Dolph at the fifth flight. De La Cruz won the first set 6-2 and had a 5-2 advantage in the second set before Dolph mounted a comeback before De La Cruz won 7-6 (7-3).
 
Nichols will head to Wheaton (Mass.) tomorrow for a 4:00 p.m. non-conference match.