BOSTON, Mass.—UMass Boston men's tennis grinded out a sweep of doubles play and won the bottom four singles flights, to earn a 7-2 win over visiting Western Connecticut State University on Saturday afternoon.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 7, Western Connecticut State 2
(UMass Boston 6-7, Little East 4-0)
(Western Connecticut State 4-8, Little East 1-3)
HOW IT HAPPENED
With rain and heavy wind in the forecast, the two teams were forced indoors to the Sportsmen's Tennis Club. The indoor facility made the high-pressure match ever more intense, with only three matches going at any one time.
UMass Boston jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the match, but would have to wait a long time for Sanshrut Sharma (Mumbai, India) to secure the all important fifth point.
Prior to Saturday's match, UMass Boston honored their lone senior: Nikhil Illa (Hyderabad, India). Illa played an exhibition match at seventh singles in his 2016-17 season debut.
Freshmen Alexander Comerchero (Brookline, Mass.), junior Tran (Quincy, Mass.) and sophomore Ray Platteel (Holbrook, Mass.) all went a perfect 2-0 in the match win.
UMass Boston opened the day with a dominant 8-1 win at third doubles. Platteel and doubles partner Guang Huang (Quincy, Mass.) raced out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back.
The other two doubles matches proved to be much closer. Tran and Onkgopotse Mokoka (Pretoria, South Africa) fell behind 5-2 at second doubles, before racing back to earn an 8-6 win.
Number one doubles almost was an exact inverse of second doubles. Austin DeLasse (Mexico City, Mexico) and Comerchero went out to a 7-2 lead, before holding on for a nerve-racking 8-6 win.
Comerchero quickly tacked on the Beacons' fourth point of the day at third singles. The freshman downed Austin Howard 6-2, 6-2 to push the lead to 4-0.
From that point on, the next three matches to take the courts went to three sets.
Jason Hipona defeated Josh Bhasin (Tulsa, Okla.) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 at second singles, after Bhasin rebounded from a first-set loss to force a third set.
The Colonials cut the Beacons' lead in half at first singles. DeLasse took the first set 6-2 over Aaron Campos, before Campos responded with a 6-2 win in the second. DeLasse jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third set, only for Campos to bounce back with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win.
Sharma shut the door on the Colonials after replacing Bhasin on court two. The junior dominated Jacques Fortier 6-0, 6-0 to push the lead to 5-2.
Platteel, who was the last player to take the courts, earned a 6-3, 6-1 win over Matt O'Keefe in sixth singles to make it 6-2.
In the final match to end, Tran and Jeff Hensley played a marathon match at fourth singles. Hensley took the first set 6-2 and led 6-2 in the second-set tiebreaker. Tran fought off four match points to take the tiebreaker 8-6 and then saved two more match points when trailing 5-6 in the third set. In the end, Tran earned a 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-0) marathon win.
BY THE NUMBERS
- UMass Boston is 4-0 in Little East Conference play for just the second time in program history. The Beacons went 6-0 in Little East play in 2013 and won the LEC Regular Season and Tournament Titles.
- With the win, UMass Boston improved to 8-9 all-time against the Colonials and earned their seventh-straight win against Western Connecticut State.
- UMass Boston swept all three doubles matches for just the second time in conference play and third time this season.
- Tran (6-0) and Sharma (4-0) are the lone Beacons left undefeated in Little East play.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will travel to Salem State University on Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. With a win on Tuesday, the Beacons can clinch a share of the LEC Regular Season Title and the number one seed in the LEC Tournament.
