HITLON HEAD, S.C.—Defending Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Champion Edgewood College handed UMass Boston Men's Tennis a 7-2 loss, in both team's Hilton Head Spring Tennis Fest opener.
THE BASICS
Edgewood College 7, UMass Boston 2
(UMass Boston 0-3)
(Edgewood College 2-5)
HOW IT HAPPENED
UMass Boston started the match with a 2-0 lead due to a pair of Eagles forfeits at third doubles and sixth singles, but it would be all Edgewood from there.
The Eagles dropped just four games in doubles action and won all but one set in singles action, to defeat the Beacons in the first-ever matchup between the two programs.
Senior Zeke Hernandez (Baytown, Texas) won the only set for UMass Boston in singles play, as Hernandez took the first set 6-3, before eventually falling 3-6, 6-2, 10-4 in a third-set tiebreaker at fourth singles.
Edgewood got off to a hot start in the match, as their first doubles team cruised past Jack Wang (Suzhou, China) and Adhirath Bhatotia (New Delhi, Ind.) 8-1.
The Beacons' second pair was more competitive, as Hernandez and fellow senior Vlad Leopard (Carnikava, Latvia) fell 8-3 at number two doubles.
Leopard was also a tough out for the Eagles in singles action, as the senior fell 6-4, 6-3 to Jaime Benavides at number three singles.
Sophomore Sanshrut Sharma (Mumbai, India) made his collegiate debut at fifth singles, where he dropped a tightly-contested 6-2, 6-4 decision.
BY THE NUMBER
- UMass Boston fell to 0-3 for the second time in three years. In 2014, the Beacons started the season 0-5, before winning nine of their last 13 matches to finish 9-9.
- Sharma became the sixth different Beacon this season to make their collegiate debut.
- Sunday's match marked the first-ever match for UMass Boston tennis in South Carolina.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will take on Shepherd College on Monday at 2:30 p.m., in the Beacons' second of four matches in Hilton Head.
