Box Score: Men \ Women
DUDLEY, Mass. – Senior Anna Dyakiv (Amsterdam, N.Y.) and junior Brandon Roode (Griswold, Conn.) each recorded straight-sets wins to propel the Nichols women's and men's tennis teams to wins over Colby-Sawyer College Sunday afternoon at the Robinson Tennis Courts. The women's won 6-3 while the men won 7-2.
The Chargers men's squad – which was eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by the Bison last season – dropped two of the three doubles matches to begin the day. Nichols No. 1 team of Roode and sophomore Carlos De La Cruz (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) had no trouble with Nathan Taschereau (Goffstown, N.H.) and Myles Utell (Bedford, Mass.), winning 8-2. Roode and De La Cruz also won their singles matches, with Roode playing No. 1 and Cruz playing No. 3. Roode defeated Taschereau 6-2, 6-1, while De La Cruz won in three sets, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-4.
Colby-Sawyer's No.3 doubles team of Sergio Spassof (Pallini, Greece) and Dean Boodakian (Burlington, Mass.) defeated freshman Joan Castillo and junior Cam Lewis (Bolton, Mass.) 8-6. Castillo also fell in straight sets at No. 2 singles to Utell, 6-2, 6-3.
Nichols No. 2 doubles team of Josh Halpern (Secaucus, N.J.) and freshman James Smith needed a tiebreaker to defeat the duo of Justin Pinard (Essex, Vt.) and Cass McCann (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), 9-8 (7-4). Halpern cruised to a victory at No. 4 singles over Clay Allen (Massena, N.Y.), 6-1, 6-0, while Smith defeated Spassof, 6-4, 6-2. Freshman Jake Zapatka also won in straight sets, defeating Pinard 6-0, 6-2.
On the women's side, Colby-Sawyer won the No. 1 singles and doubles matches, along with No. 4 singles. In the No. 1 doubles match, Dyakiv and freshman Cristina Szepanski (Windsor Locks, Conn.) fell to Elizabeth Lincoln (Plymouth, Mass.) and Ashlyn Ramsay (Barkhamsted, Conn.), 8-5. The No.2 doubles team of junior Lindsay Benoit (Holden, Mass.) and freshman Emma Carey (Venice, Fla.) recorded an 8-5 win over Charlotte Horton (South
Hamilton, Mass.) and Oxana Tkachenko (Lviv, Ukraine).
Senior Erin Rivers (Bristol, R.I.) and sophomore Michelle Keklik (Stratford, Conn.) were all over the No. 3 match against Ellen Graham (Newburyport, Mass.) and Conley Dion (Falmouth, Maine), winning 8-2.
Benoit fell at No. 1 singles to Lincoln, 7-6, 6-3, while Dyakiv defeated Ramsay at No. 2 singles, 6-3, 6-2. Szepanski played No. 3 singles and won a tiebreaker in her first set against Horton, 7-6 (8-6), before putting her away in the second set, 6-0. Carey was defeated by Tkachenko 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4.
Junior Kelsey Peterson (Fairbanks, Alaska) controlled her match against Graham at No. 5 singles, winning 6-3, 6-2. Junior Katie Malloy (Norwell, Mass.) defeated Dion 6-2, 6-1 in the No. 6 singles match.
The Bison women's team plays at Western New England tomorrow afternoon while the men travel to Springfield, Mass. to take on Springfield College on Sept. 23. Colby-Sawyer's women's team plays at Merrimack College on Wednesday, and their men play at Roger Williams on Friday.
