Box Score

DUDLEY, Mass. – Freshman Alanna Judd (Westborough, Mass.) won both her doubles and the deciding singles match as the Nichols College women's tennis team defeated No. 3 Roger Williams 6-1 in the semifinal round of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament Thursday afternoon at the Pomfret School.

The Bison advance to the CCC Championship for the fifth consecutive season and will play Endicott College for the fourth consecutive year in the final.

Judd and freshman Lauren Candia (Anaheim Hills, Calif.) got things started for the Bison, defeating junior Lauren Schmidt (South Windsor, Conn.) and senior Alexandra Brown (Kennett, Mo.) 8-3 at No. 1 doubles.

The Hawks (11-4) evened things up after No. 3 doubles. Freshmen Kathryn Hughes (Westford, Mass.) and Gabrielle Riley (Barnstable, Mass.) knocked off the Bison's freshmen duo of Ashley Dallaire (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and Daniela Saldarriaga (Medellin, Colombia) 8-4.

In the No. 2 doubles match, senior captain Lindsay Benoit (Holden, Mass.) and sophomore Cristina Szepanski (Windsor Locks, Conn.) found themselves trailing 6-2 to sophomore's Harley Kaiserman (Setauket, N.Y.) and Caroline McCarthy (Carver, Mass.)before staging a comeback and taking the match 9-8 (7-3).

In the singles matches, the Bison took control. Benoit took down Kaiserman in straight sets 7-5, 6-0 at No. 3 singles while at No. 5 singles, Dallaire got the best of freshman Ali Stankiewicz (Brunswick, Maine) 6-0, 6-1 to pull the Bison within a match of heading to the Championship.

Judd controlled the first set in the top flight before playing back and forth with Schmidt in the second set, but ultimately came away with the 6-1, 7-5 win and the deciding point for the match.

Candia finished merely seconds later at No. 4 singles, defeating McCarthy 6-4, 6-4.

Szepanski was leading Hughes at No. 2 singles 6-4, 3-2 and Saldarriaga was trailing Riley at No. 6 singles 6-7, 0-1 when the match was called.

"Today's match was an interesting experience," said Nichols head coach Paul Brower. "We got off to a rough start in doubles, but Alanna and Lauren took care of business quickly and Lindsay really took charge of the tiebreak after a kind of rough start to the match."

The Bison will travel to take on No. 1 Endicott on Saturday at noon for the CCC Championship.