SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Roger Williams University Men's Tennis team has been selected second in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Preseason Poll, as was announced today.
 
Nichols College was selected first in the 2020 CCC Men's Tennis Preseason Poll. The Bison earned 67 points in this year's poll including seven of a possible eight first place votes. The voting was conducted by the league's eight head men's tennis coaches last week.
 
Roger Williams, a CCC semifinalist last year, landed in the No. 2 spot in this year's poll. The Hawks are looking to return to the CCC Championship for the first time since 2016, the final year of nine stretch of CCC Tournament Championship appearances. They earned 55 points in this year's poll and were the only other team to claim a first place vote.
 
If the poll is any indication, the 2020 season should be tightly contested as three schools earned 41 points to tie for the third place spot. One of those teams is 2019 CCC Tournament runner-up Western New England. The Golden Bears made their first-ever CCC Championship appearance last year after having a three game improvement in conference play and earning the No. 2 seed. Endicott and Gordon, both CCC Tournament contenders a year ago, were the other two schools tying for third.
 
Wentworth (23 points), Salve Regina (14), and Curry (12) completed this year's polling in that order.
 
In 2019, the Roger Williams men's tennis team ended the season with an overall record of 7-6 while amassing a 4-3 record in the CCC to finish in third place in the regular season. The Hawks rallied to three 9-0 wins over the course of the year including a 6-0 victory over sixth-seeded Curry in the CCC Quarterfinals. Unfortunately, the team's season came to an end in the CCC Semifinals against the No. 2 seed Western New England.
 
This year's Hawk squad is laden with depth, as the team brings back nine players while adding five new players to the team. One of the team's top returners is senior Brendan White (Old Lyme, Conn.), who spent last season as the team's primary No. 1 singles and doubles player, in addition to being selected to the 2019 All-CCC First Team – Singles and All-CCC Second Team – Doubles.
 
The spring semester portion of the 2019-20 CCC Men's Tennis season begins on Friday, Feb. 14 as Endicott hosts St. Michael's in a non-conference matchup. Teams will get their spring break trips out of the way before returning home to begin conference play on Saturday, March 28. The top six teams in the conference standings at the end of the regular-season will qualify for the 2020 CCC Men's Tennis Championship Tournament. The tournament begins on Saturday, April 25 with two quarterfinal matches. The winners of those matches will move on to the semifinals on Wednesday, April 29. The league season will conclude on Saturday, May 2 with the CCC Tournament Championship match. The CCC Tournament Champion will earn the conference's automatic qualifier into the 2020 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship.
 
2020 CCC Men's Tennis Preseason Coaches' Poll
 

	Team	Points (First Place Votes)
1.	Nichols	67 (7)
2.	Roger Williams	55 (1)
T-3.	Endicott	41
T-3.	Gordon	41
T-3.	Western New England	41
6.	Wentworth	23
7.	Salve Regina	14
8.	Curry	12

 
- Release courtesy of the Commonwealth Coast Conference