ORLANDO, Fla.—UMass Boston men's tennis swept doubles and won the bottom three flights of singles to earn their first win of the season Sunday morning against local rival Curry College.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 6, Curry College 3
(UMass Boston 1-3)
(Curry College 0-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Beacons won their first three doubles matches of the season and played extremely competitive in all six singles matches, to earn their first won of the 2016-17 season.
Sophomore Ray Platteel (Holbrook, Mass.) won his first two collegiate matches, while freshman Alexander Comerchero (Brookline, Mass.) picked up his first collegiate win at number two doubles.
Junior Guang Huang (Quincy, Mass.) and sophomore Tin Tran (Quincy, Mass.) each earned their first wins of the season, with Tran joining Plateel as the lone Beacons to earn a pair of wins on the day.
The two teams played extremely tight matches in all three doubles flights and five of the six singles matches.
UMass Boston opened the match with Plateel and Huang earning an 8-6 win over Curry's Ben Higgins and Zach Muller at third-flight doubles.
The Beacons doubled their advantage at number one doubles. Austin DeLasse (Mexico City, Mexico) and Josh Bhasin (Tulsa, Okla.) pulled out an 8-5 victory over Ryan Sullivan and Aidan Roach.
Second doubles went the full distance and more, as Tran and Comerchero each earned their first wins of the year. The two went back-and-forth with Dawson Stento and Richie Hefler before prevailing in a huge 9-7 win.
The Beacons would carry their momentum into singles play, needing just two points to secure the win.
Sanshrut Sharma (Mumbai, India) kept his momentum going with the easiest win of the day for either side. The junior registered his second-straight singles win with a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of his opponent at fifth singles.
Curry earned their first point of the season in a strange way. Comerchero took the first set and was crusing against his Curry opponent. Already holding a 5-3 lead in the second set, Comerchero hit a fantastic running forehand winner but got his thumb caught in a metal chainlink fence. With his hand needing treatment, Comerchero was forced to retire giving the Colonels the point.
UMass Boston clinched the win at fourth singles. Tran cruised past Hefler 6-4, 6-2 to capture his first collegiate singles victory.
With the match victory fully secured, the final three matches of the day all went to a third set super tiebreaker.
At sixth singles, Plateel battled back from dropping the first set (6-4), to earn a 4-6, 6-2, 10-8 win.
The Colonels managed to grab the final two points in a pair of matches that were extremely tight.
Roach downed DeLasse 4-6, 6-2, 14-12 at number one singles, while Sullivan edged out Bhasin 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in second-flight singles.
BY THE NUMBERS
- UMass Boston had been 0-10 in doubles play to open the season.
- The Beacons improved to 18-7 all-time against the Colonels and earned their third-straight win against Curry.
- The Beacons have now won a match at every spot in the lineup but third singles.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will take on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday's match will be played at the Beerman Tennis Center in Lakeland, Florida.
