Nichols Cruises Past Men's Tennis

POMFRET, Conn. – The regionally-ranked Nichols College men's tennis team defeated visiting Wentworth on Saturday in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) match via an 8-1 decision at Pomfret School. With the win, the Bison, currently 18th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) regional rankings, improve to 14-5 overall and 6-1 in conference play. The Leopards, meanwhile, dip to 5-6 on the season and 3-4 in league action.
 
Juniors Paul Healy (Pomfret, Conn.) and Dan Roman (Tolland, Conn.) cruised past junior Andy Chen (New Taipei City, Taiwan) and sophomore Dylan Melnik (Wake Forest, N.C.) 8-2 to claim the third doubles flight. Sophomore Brandon Roode (Griswold, Conn.) and rookie Carlos De La Cruz (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) quickly followed with an 8-2 win of their own as they defeated freshmen James Drum (Madison, Conn.) and Sean Murray (North Brookfield, Mass.) at the second flight.  Graduate student David Drucker (Bellmore, N.Y.) and senior Justin DeLuca (Mashpee, Mass.) gave the Bison the 3-0 advantage as they pulled away with an 8-5 triumph over seniors Dave Filar (Wolcott, Conn.) and Juan Rodriguez (Quito, Ecuador). The top flight had been knotted at 5-all before the Bison duo won the final three games to remain undefeated (7-0) in conference action this season.
 
De La Cruz sailed to a 6-0, 6-0 victory at the fourth flight moments before Roode, the region's 20th-ranked student-athlete, clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Drum in his first singles appearance in 10 days. Wentworth picked up its lone point of the match as Melnik topped freshman Joseph Munsey (Arlington, Mass.), who was playing in his first match for the Bison. Healy then blanked Murray, 6-0, 6-0 for the sixth Bison point of the afternoon. Drucker and DeLuca each matched their doubles wins output as they notched their seventh singles victory in seven CCC contests to date. Drucker took down Filar with a 6-1, 6-0 decision and DeLuca ended the match with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Rodriguez.

Nichols hosts Endicott on Wednesday at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass. The match is slated to get underway at 4:00 p.m. Wentworth heads to Wheelock for a 7:30 p.m. non-conference match on Monday.

(Recap Courtesy of Nichols Sports Information)