Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Senior Justin DeLuca (Mashpee, Mass.) set the school-record for singles wins in a career in the Nichols College men's tennis team's win over Western New England University 9-0 in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Thursday afternoon at the Volvo Outdoor Courts.

DeLuca passed David Drucker in the all-time Nichols tennis record book with his 65th career singles win after defeating sophomore Alexander Sause (Cusago, Italy) 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles. He broke Drucker's school-record for doubles wins in a career last week against Wentworth.

This marks the fifth consecutive match that the Bison have blanked the opposing team.

The Golden Bears (8-8, 4-4 CCC) played competitively in doubles, but ultimately couldn't pull out a win in any of the matches. DeLuca and junior Brandon Roode (Griswold, Conn.) defeated Sause and sophomore Andres Otero (Caracas, Venezuela) 8-4 at No. 1 doubles.

At No. 2 doubles, freshman Joan Castillo (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) and sophomore Carlos De La Cruz (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) went back and forth with juniors Peter LeFrancois (Marlborough, Mass.) and PJ Nassar (Longmeadow, Mass.) before coming away with the 8-6 win.

Sophomore Josh Halpern (Secaucus, N.J.) and freshman James Smith (Monte Sereno, Calif.) rounded out the doubles matches for the Bison after defeating juniors John Mindek (Willington, Conn.) and Greg Tischofer (Portland, Conn.) 8-4 at No. 3 doubles.

Nichols swept through the singles matches without dropping a set. Roode tied the Bison single-season singles win record (21) set by DeLuca in 2010 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Otero at No. 2 singles.

At No. 3 singles, Castillo defeated LeFrancois 6-0, 6-1 while at No.  4 singles, De La Cruz put away senior Tyler Unwin (Pittsfield, Vt.) 6-1, 6-2. Halpern beat sophomore Adam Zimmerman (South Windsor, Conn.) at No. 5 singles 6-1, 6-1.

Freshman Jake Zapatka (Wethersfield, Conn.) completed the sweep of the day by defeating Mindek 6-0, 6-1 at No. 6 singles.

The Bison claimed the top seed for the CCC men's tennis championship. The Bison (19-1 overall) earned the top spot in the upcoming CCC tournament after posting a perfect 8-0 record in conference play.

Top-seeded Nichols and second-seeded Roger Williams University (13-4 overall, 7-1 CCC) will both receive byes in the tournament's quarterfinal round.

The Bison will be back in action Wednesday when they host the winner of Eastern Nazarene College and Western New England in the CCC Semi-final round at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. at 3:00 p.m. The Golden Bears travel to play Eastern Nazarene on Saturday at noon for the CCC Quarterfinal round.