DUDLEY, Mass. – The top-seeded Nichols College men's tennis team looks to capture its seventh-straight Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship on Saturday afternoon when the Bison host No. 2-seed Eastern Nazarene College at 12:00 p.m. at the Robinson Tennis Courts.
 
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The Bison (18-3, 8-0 CCC) and Lions (17-3, 7-1 CCC) are meeting for the 43rd time in program history, and Nichols leads the all-time series 35-7 headed in to Saturday's showdown. Saturday is a rematch of last season's CCC Final, which Nichols won, 5-3, on the road in Quincy, Mass. The Bison have won 13 of the last 14 meetings between the two squads, including a 3-0 mark against the Lions in the CCC Tournament.
 
Nichols won the previous meeting between the two teams this season, 6-3, at the Pomfret School on Saturday, April 7. After taking a 2-1 lead following doubles play, Nichols won three quick singles matches to clinch the match, including sophomore Brandon Howard's come-from-behind, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, victory over eventual CCC Player of the Year junior Alex Partyka, to seal the victory.
 
The Bison advanced to the CCC Championship by downing No. 4-seed Endicott, 5-0, on Wednesday afternoon. Nichols was able to sweep all three doubles matches before sophomore Guilherme Barbosa and freshman August Moeller posted matching 6-1, 6-1 wins at No. 2 and No. 5 singles, respectively, to clinch the match.
 
The Lions also cruised in their CCC Semifinal matchup against No. 3-seed Roger Williams as the Lions posted a 5-0 victory themselves. Eastern Nazarene rolled through doubles play to take a 3-0 lead and the Lions got dominating wins at No. 2 and No. 4 singles to advance to their second-straight CCC title match.
 
The Bison are led by CCC Co-Coach of the Year Paul Brower, and sophomores Guilherme Barbosa and Brandon Howard, who were both named to the First Team All-CCC Singles squad. Junior Blake Norton earned a spot on the Second Team All-CCC Singles Team and freshman Brandon Stewart was named to the Third Team All-CCC Singles Team. Norton and freshman August Moeller were both named to the First Team All-CCC Doubles Team, while Barbosa and classmate Peter Coletti were named Third Team All-CCC Doubles.
 
Eastern Nazarene's Alex Partyka repeated as Commonwealth Coast Conference Player of the Year while 15th-year head coach Cristian Popa was named the CCC Co-Coach of the Year for the second-consecutive season. Partyka also picked up his third-straight All-CCC first team singles nod. Sophomore Henry Siercke was tabbed to the All-CCC second team in singles. Sophomore Laurent Ruttkowski earned All-CCC third team honors. The doubles tandem of Partyka and Ruttkowski collected All-CCC first team doubles accolades as well.
 
The winner of Saturday's match will earn the CCC's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament, with the selection show coming on Monday afternoon.