BRISTOL, R.I.- The second-seeded Roger Williams University Men's Tennis team seeks their fourth Commonwealth Coast Conference championship when they battle the top-seeded Nichols College in a heavyweight clash on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Hawks seek their fourth CCC crown in program history and are looking to claim back-to-back titles for the first time. Nichols is in a familiar spot, as the have rebounded this season after missing out on the championship match for the first time since 2011 last spring. In that span, The Bison claimed eight-straight championships from 2012 through 2019.
 
For The Hawks
Roger Williams features depth and quality throughout their lineup, and it has served them well on their way to a 16-2 record this year including 7-1 in CCC play to clinch the second seed. They then advanced to the championship match by blanking Salve Regina and then mounting a comeback to slip past Endicott on Tuesday.
 
The Hawks may feature the best one-two punch in the Commonwealth Coast Conference in Jon Trevethan (Berlin, Conn.) and Dan Tocco (East Quohog, N.Y.). Both were All-CCC First Team selections for RWU both as individuals and as a doubles pair, making them the only pairing to do that in the conference this spring. They dominated individually with Trevethan going 13-4 in #1 singles, and 7-1 in conference action while Tocco was even better at 17-1 overall and 7-1 in CCC play at the #2 flight. But together, they were nearly unbeatable going 16-2 on the year, winning 16-straight from their second match last fall through the Semifinals on Tuesday, and along the way, they did not drop a match the regular season in conference play.
 
Matt Glassman (West Hartford, Conn.) will likely play #3 singles for RWU, a spot that he has occupied virtually all year and he has found success. Glassman stands at 10-7 including 6-2 in conference action, earning a spot on the all-conference third team in singles. He also got  a spot on the third team in doubles alongside Tyler Cain (Montpelier, Vt.), becoming the first freshman named to the All-CCC team in both singles and doubles in program history. Cain and Glassman have fit well together in the third flight of doubles, going 10-2 this spring and 6-1 in conference action.
 
Sandwiched between the first and third flights of doubles is the pairing of Johnny Baldyga (Simsbury, Conn.) and Ryan Schuck (Glastonbury, Conn.). The two Constitution State products have been good together since getting paired up this spring, going 7-1 overall and 4-1 in CCC action. Individually, they were both All-CCC selections with Schuck making the second team and the two-time conference Rookie of the Week Baldyga netting third team honors. Schuck has dominated the fourth flight of singles, going 16-1 with his only loss coming in CCC action. Meanwhile, Baldyga has gone undefeated since cracking the starting-six in the fifth flight this spring, going 11-0.
 
Rounding out the lineup for RWU will likely be Arlex Correa (Lynnfield, Mass.). He has gone 8-3 this year in the sixth flight for singles.
 
For The Bison
Nichols College features a squad that can undisputedly match Roger Williams in terms of depth and firepower at the top as evidenced by the regular season showdown between the two squads. They went 15-5 this season and were undefeated in their eight conference matches. This resulted in the top seed and a first round bye for NC before they handled Wentworth, 5-1, on Tuesday.
 
The Bison tend to be unpredictable in how they deploy their lineup, but it will likely be Giacomo Ghitti (Brescia, Italy) in the topflight. He was put in a difficult position being thrust into #1 singles as a freshman, but he has excelled going 8-6 and 3-1 in conference en route to an All-CCC First Team selection. According to the coaches across the CCC, Ghitti was not even Nichols' top rookie. That distinction belongs to Adrian Toderascu (Chisinau, Moldova) who earned CCC Rookie of the Year after going 11-2 this year, primarily in the third flight of singles.
 
In between the two freshmen will likely be sophomore Trevor Schwartzman (Dartmouth, Mass.). Schwartzman was the third all-conference first team selection after going 9-3 this year, primarily in #2 singles but it is back to the freshman international players for the rest of the Bison lineup. In #4 singles will likely be Moritz Kern (Herzogenrath, Germany) who was an all-conference third teamer after going 8-6 on the season and 4-0 in CCC play. Rounding out the lineup will probably be Santiago Perez (Alicante, Spain) who is 8-5 mostly in #5 singles, and Jose Siles (Lima, Peru) who is 7-0 in various spots, but appeared in the sixth flight when the Hawks and Bison matched up in the regular season.
 
Nichols mixes and matches their doubles pairings a lot and it works for them. They had all three combinations make the all-conference squads, including two on the All-CCC Second Team in doubles, the first being Toderascu and Steven Kuang (Guangzhau, China) they went undefeated this year in their seven matches of doubles play in both the first and second flights. The other all-conference duo is Ghetti and Perez as they were tied for the team lead in matches at #1 doubles. The Bison also put a pairing on the third team as Caio Dieckmann (Rio de Janiero, Brazil) and Kern went 6-0 together, mostly in #3 doubles.
 
Previous Meetings
Roger Williams played Nichols in a midweek showdown back on April 14^th at the RWU Tennis Courts, falling to the Bison, 7-2 in that matchup. For many of the Hawks, their only setbacks of the season occurred in that match as RWU went 1-2 in doubles with Trevethan and Tocco picking up a win while Baldyga picked up the host's lone victory in singles.
 
RWU versus NC is a long-lasting rivalry in Commonwealth Coast Conference Men's Tennis, and it largely stems from the two squads encountering each other in the CCC Championship match on nearly an annual basis. This year marks the seventh time it has been Hawks against Bison in the CCC title match but the first since 2016 when they encountered each other for the sixth-consecutive year in the title game with Nichols winning five of those matchups.
 
It is also the 34^th all-time match-up between the two schools with the previous matchups being evenly split with 17 wins apiece.
 
How To Follow Along
The contest will begin at 3:00 PM at the Robinson Tennis Courts on the campus of Nichols College though the start time and location may be adjusted due to the incoming weather. If you either do not want to get wet or just cannot make it to the match, you can still follow along at the links below.
 
VIDEO: https://nicholsathletics.com/sports/2016/10/24/tennis-webcast.aspx
 
LIVE STATS: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YjvDwohifK4uF1IrfqwA0IA6eUVBtNOAMtB0DjKbgCI/edit#gid=0