New London, Conn. -- April 23, 2009 -- The Coast Guard Academy men's tennis team defeated Springfield College, 5-1, earlier this afternoon at the Academy's tennis courts in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference Tournament Quarterfinal match. With the loss, Springfield's tennis season is over.Springfield finishes with an overall record of 5-9. The Pride finished 1-4 in the NEWMAC conference. SC also won a pair of exhibition matches versus Mayaguez and Rio Piedras, both by 7-2 scores, in Puerto Rico in March.
Today's match was actually much closer than indicated. The 5-1 score was played so that as soon as the winning team reached the requisite five points, the match was halted.
For Springfield, the only official winner came at No. 3 doubles. The team of freshman Zach O'Leary (Westboro, Mass.) and sophomore Eric Henne (Bristol, Conn.) won by a score of 9-7. The other two doubles teams lost close ones -- 9-8 at No. 1, and 8-6 at No. 2.
The official score from a singles standpoint was 3-0, Coast Guard. The Bears won at No. 1 (the clincher), No. 2, and No. 4. They were also leading at No. 3.
O'Leary was leading his match at No. 5 -- 7-5, 4-2. And Henne was leading his match at No. 6 -- 6-3, 4-4 -- when the procedings ended. The clincher came at No. 1 with Coast Guard's Greg Mitchell defeating senior Andrew Constant (Kingston, N.Y.), 6-3, 6-2.
Final Score: Coast Guard 5, Springfield 1
Doubles
1) Greg Mitchell/Chris Pappe (CGA) def. Andrew Constant/Bobby Schlink (SC), 9-8 (5)
2) Wesley Figaro/Nick Martin (CGA) def. Trevor Romanzi/Tim Tunis (SC), 8-6
3) Eric Henne/Zach O'Leary (SC) def. Tim Ozimek/James Vuckovic (CGA), 9-7
Singles
1) Mitchell (CGA) def. Constant (SC), 6-3, 6-2
2) Martin (CGA) def. Romanzi (SC), 6-0, 6-2
3) Pappe (CGA) was leading Schlink (SC), 7-5, 4-1
4) Vuckovic (CGA) def. Tunis (SC), 6-1, 6-1
5) O'Leary (SC) was leading Figaro (CGA), 7-5, 4-2
6) Henne (SC) was leading Ozimek (CGA), 6-3, 4-4
Records: Springfield 5-9; Coast Guard 8-9
Toby Coffin G’01, enters his second year as the head men’s and women’s tennis coach at Springfield College. Coffin, who has coached at numerous high schools in the area, will look to build a program which will contend for a conference crown.
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