Box Score

HANOVER, N.H. – The Nichols College men's tennis team defeated Colby-Sawyer 8-1 in a rematch of the NCAA First Round from a year ago Thursday night at the Boss Tennis Center.
 
The Bison got off to a great start – sweeping through the doubles matches to take a 3-0 lead before winning five of the six singles matches. The 8-1 win was the largest win in the series since the 2011 season.
 
The top pairing of sophomore Blake Norton (Stratford, Conn.) and freshman Brandon Howard (Hamden, Conn.) got things started by winning 8-6 over junior Gustav Jigrup (Gothenburg, Sweden) and senior Cass McCann (Alberta, Canada).
 
Sophomores Kiril Ivanov (Moscow, Russia) and Igor Markowski (Paris, France) picked up the win at No. 3 doubles, 8-5, over freshman Cam Lynch (Haverhill, Mass.) and sophomore Alex Wright (Cornwall, England).
 
The Bison completed the sweep of doubles with senior captain James Smith (Monte Sereno, Calif.) and freshman Guilherme Barbosa (Bradenton, Fla.) winning the 7-5 tiebreak to defeat seniors Dean Boodakian (Burlington, Mass.) and Ryan Sawyer (Edgartown, Mass.), 9-8.
 
Nichols continued its impressive play in singles – winning the first five matches before dropping No. 5 singles to close out the night. Boodakian defeated senior Jake Zapatka (Wethersfield, Conn.) 3-6, 7-5, 10-2.
 
Freshman Jack Donaldson (Easton, Md.) knocked off junior Ross Kenney (Hampton Falls, N.H.) at No. 6 singles in three sets, 5-7, 6-1, 10-5, followed by Howard defeating McCann 7-5, 6-3 at No. 2 singles.
 
Smith earned the win in the No. 4 flight over Sawyer 6-2, 6-2 before Barbosa got the best of Wright at No. 3 singles in three sets, 3-6, 6-1, 10-2.
 
The Bison's last individual win of the day came from Norton in the top flight 6-2, 3-6, 10-5 over Jigrup.
 
All-Time Series
The Bison are winners of seven of the last eight matches against the Chargers and lead the all-time series at, 14-12.
 
Next Games
Nichols (5-2) – Saturday, April 1 vs Gordon, 1:00 p.m.
Colby-Sawyer (4-8) – Saturday, April 1 at MCLA, 1:00 p.m.