BEVERLY, Mass. - Less than a year ago in Newport, Salve Regina University women's tennis swept all nine matches in a 9-0 win over Endicott College in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) regular-season final for both teams. Today in the conference opener at Endicott, the Gulls nearly reversed the score while finishing with an 8-1 win against the Seahawks.
"Our 9-0 score versus Endicott last year was very deceiving," said Seahawk head coach Ed Habershaw, in his 18th year at the helm. "We swept the doubles, but could have very easily split the singles matches while taking three of them in third-set 10-point tiebreaks. Today, we knew it wasn't over even after the Gulls swept us in the doubles play. Lots of unforced errors by us allowed Endicott to relax and play more aggressively. We rebounded with solid efforts in singles."
Endicott's senior pair of Emily Annis (Hampton, N.H.) and Kate Cioffi (Essex, Vt.) played with experience at first doubles to win 8-0 over Salve Regina freshman Elizabeth DiFilippo (West Chester, Pa.) and sophomore Ana Gwozdz (Taunton, Mass.). Emilie Cloutier (Lewiston, Maine) and Amy Heacox (Marion, Mass.) won by the same score at third doubles over freshman Erica Shay (Concord, Mass.) and senior Nichol Stevens (Chester, Conn.).
Salve Regina's "O" team - junior Shannon O'Brien (Gorham, Maine) and freshman Megan Olson (Colchester, Vt.) rallied from a love-5 hole at second doubles to win three straight games, but freshman Natalie Egbert (Gorham, Maine) and senior Laura MacLeod (Mashpee, Mass.) prevailed 8-3 for the doubles sweep.
"MacLeod was very effective poaching on our returns," observed Habershaw.
DiFilippo took a straight-set loss at second singles while, on an adjacent court, Gwozdz had a back-and-forth affair at third singles before succumbing 6-2,6-2 to Heacox.
Elizabeth Liguori (Westerly, R.I.) played solid singles in the fifth slot, but was overmatched by Egbert. Stevens enjoyed an early 3-1 lead at the top singles spot over Cioffi, but the Endicott senior won the battle in straight sets.
O'Brien lost two close sets to Annis at fourth singles while Shay earned the lone Seahawk point with a long, two-set battle at sixth singles over Rachel Fenstermaker (Somerset, Mass.).
Salve Regina returns to the courts for its home opener in a non-league meeting with Rhode Island College on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
