BEVERLY, Mass.--The Western New England University men's tennis team's 2014-15 season came to a close Tuesday with a 5-1 loss at Endicott College in the 2015 Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship Tournament Quarterfinals at the South Campus Courts. The visiting Golden Bears were seeded sixth in the tournament while the Gulls were third, now advancing to the semifinals to face No. 2 Nichols College.

The Gulls received strong play from their first-team All-CCC doubles team of Michael Dolph and Christopher Kirkpatrick who teamed up to claim an 8-3 victory over Western New England's all-conference third team of junior Andres Otero and senior tri-captain PJ Nassar at No. 1. Nassar is also the Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the CCC.

Seniors Chris Spear and Greg Tischofer, a team tri-captain, picked up WNE's lone point at No. 3 doubles, downing Michael Lauretano/Justin Warshavsky, 8-5.

Three matches were still undecided when Endicott claimed the win, but the Golden Bears held leads in those singles bouts that didn't figure into the final team score. At No. 1, junior Alexander Sause--a three-time all-conference singles standout--defeated Kirkpatrick 6-2 in the first set and the opponents were tied 4-4 in the second. Otero edged Eric Pierce 7-6 (2) in a first set No. 2 match-up, but Pierce was leading 3-0 in the second. Senior Peter LeFrancois was leading Lauretano at No. 4, 7-6 (3) and 2-1.

After defeating the Golden Bears for the second time this season, Endicott now improves to 11-6 on the season while WNE wraps up at 7-8.

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Doubles Competition

Andres Otero / PJ Nassar (WNE-M)	3
> Michael Dolph / Chris Kirkpatrick (EC)	8
#1 Doubles

 

Alexander Sause / Adam Zimmerman (WNE-M)	4
> Eric Pierce / Eric Gandrup (EC)	8
#2 Doubles

 

> Chris Spear / Greg Tischofer (WNE-M)	8
Michael Lauretano / Justin Warshavsky (EC)	5
#3 Doubles

Singles Competition

> Alexander Sause (WNE-M)	6	4
Chris Kirkpatrick (EC)	2	4
#1 Singles--UNFINISHED

 

> Andres Otero (WNE-M)	7 7	0
Eric Pierce (EC)	6 2	3
#2 Singles--UNFINISHED

 

Chris Spear (WNE-M)	0	2
> Michael Dolph (EC)	6	6
#3 Singles

 

> Peter LeFrancois (WNE-M)	7 7	2
Michael Lauretano (EC)	6 3	1
#4 Singles----UNFINISHED

 

Adam Zimmerman (WNE-M)	2	2
> Sean McAndrews (EC)	6	6
#5 Singles

 

Greg Tischofer (WNE-M)	1	0
> Nicholas Eherts (EC)	6	6
#6 Singles

(Editor's note: Endicott Athletics contributed to this game recap.)