BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Senior Charles Lai (Dorchester, Mass.) cemented his place as one of the program's all-time greats as he surpassed UMass Boston and Little East Conference Hall of Famer Quazi Sadruzzaman '04 for total career wins as he led men's tennis to a 7-2 Little East Conference victory over Bridgewater State University Saturday afternoon.
Lai, who now has 87 total career wins (singles and doubles), surpassed Sadruzzaman and Tom Savoie '91 following a 6-4, 6-0 win in singles and an 8-4 victory in doubles play. Already the program leader in matches played in season, doubles matches won in a career, and doubles matches played in a season, the Dorchester native continues to be the driving force behind the men's tennis program at UMass Boston.
With Saturday's win, the Beacons have now won two straight, both conference matches, as they improved to 3-7 overall, 2-1 in the LEC. For the Bears they fell to 0-6, 0-2 in the conference.
Lai and reigning Little East and ECAC New England Rookie of the Week Austin DeLasse (Shrewsbury, Mass.) made quick work of their Bridgewater opponents with the 8-4 victory at first flight. The Bears would go on to tie the match at 1-1, following their victory at the third flight.
Greg Fleming (Harwich Port, Mass.) and Jack Wang (Suzhou, China) grinded out a huge victory at second flight as they earned a 9-7 decision to put UMass ahead 2-1, as they moved into singles play.
With all the momentum in their corner, the Beacons quickly made it 4-1 following victories by Wang at fourth flight (6-2, 6-0), and DeLasse at second flight (6-2, 6-1). The Bears earned their final point of the afternoon at fifth flight, as Zachary Mutti picked-up a 6-1, 6-3 decision.
From there Lai dominated his opponent to secure his record setting win, while Fleming and Vlad Leopard (Carnikava, Latvia) secured the conference win with victories at third and sixth flight respectively. Leopard had to dig deep to take home his win as he went to a super tie-breaker. He would lead 3-0 in the third, and would save two match points at 4-5, before taking a 7-5 win in the third to cap-off a 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 7-5 victory.
Men's Tennis returns to action on Tuesday when they travel to Eastern Nazarene College for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference match.
