Golden Bears Cruise Past Men's Tennis

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Four Western New England University men's tennis players won both their singles and doubles matches to help carry the Golden Bears to an 8-1 Commonwealth Coast Conference men's tennis victory over Wentworth on Tuesday afternoon at the Volvo Outdoor Courts.

The host Golden Bears improve to 4-3 on the season and even their CCC record to 1-1, while the Leopards drop to 1-5 overall and 1-2 in the conference.

Western New England led the match 3-0 after sweeping the doubles round. Junior Andres Otero and senior tri-captain PJ Nassar defeated junior James Drum (Madison, Conn.) and freshman Jeff Tocco (Plymouth, Mass.) at number one, 8-2. At number two, juniors Adam Zimmerman and Alexander Sause defeated sophomore Nate Schwartz (Chester Springs, Pa.) and sophomore James Thomas (Lakeville, Mass.), 8-3. At number three seniors Chris Spear and Greg Tischofer stopped junior Josh Dowd (Bristol, Conn.) and senior Sean Nolan (Newport, R.I.), 8-1.

Otero earned a second point by defeating Drum at number one singles, 6-0, 6-1. Sause, Zimmerman and Tischofer, also won their singles matches at numbers two, five, and six. Freshman Doug Avellino (Woodstock, Vt.) gave Tischofer a battle as the former won the first set 6-3 before the latter tied the match with a 13-11 super tiebreaker in the second set. Tischofer won a super tiebreaker of his own and thus the match, 12-10.

Tocco picked up Wentworth's lone point at No. 3 singles, edging Spear 5-7, 6-2, 10-3.

Senior Peter LeFrancois beat senior Dylan Melnik (Raleigh, N.C.) in straight sets at number four singles, but it was tightly contested.

Wentworth is at Bridgewater State on Wednesday while Western New England hosts Curry, also tomorrow.