BOSTON, Mass.—UMass Boston men's tennis won each of the top five singles flights to earn a comeback 6-3 Little East Conference victory over Rhode Island College on Saturday afternoon.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 6, Rhode Island College 3
(UMass Boston 4-5, Little East 2-0)
(Rhode Island College 1-5, Little East 1-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
With the victory, UMass Boston improved to a league-best 2-0 in conference play and stretched their winning streak to a season-high three matches. The three-match winning streak marks their longest win streak since April 22-28, 2015.
DeLasse and Comerchero opened the match with a dominant 8-0 sweep of William Tavares and Lee Tiberi at number one doubles.
The Anchormen tied the match at 1-1, when Matthew Gambardella and Alan Esposito outlasted Guang Huang (Quincy, Mass.) and Ray Platteel (Holbrook, Mass.) 9-7 at third doubles.
In the final doubles match, Chandler Scott and Cory Duquette defeated Josh Bhasin (Tulsa, Okla.) and Onkgopotse Mokoka (Pretoria, South Africa) 8-4 at second doubles.
UMass Boston would turn the tide as soon as singles play started.
DeLasse quickly evened the match with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Tavares at number one singles.
The Beacons took the lead back with a win at third singles, as Comerchero mowed down Tiberi 6-2, 6-2.
Bhasin pushed the lead to 4-2 with a win at second singles. After missing the Beacons' previous two matches, the sophomore cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win at second singles.
The Beacons clinched the match victory at fifth singles. Junior Sanshrut Sharma (Mumbai, India) downed Duquette 6-2, 6-1 to push the lead to 5-2.
The Beacons claimed their final point at fourth singles. Tin Tran (Quincy, Mass.) dropped the first set to Gambaradella 7-5, before coming back to win the second set 6-3. With Tran leading 6-2 in the third-set super tiebreaker, Gambardella was given his third violation by the umpire, leading to him giving up a game, and thus the supertiebreaker and the match.
Rhode Island College earned their lone singles point in a super tiebreaker win at sixth singles. Esposito rallied from a 7-5 first set loss to Platteel to earn a 5-7, 7-2, 10-8 win.
BY THE NUMBERS
- UMass Boston earned their seventh-straight win over the Anchormen to improve to 14-15 all-time. Saturday's match was a rematch of last year's LEC Quarterfinals.
- Comerchero, DeLasse and Sharma all have won three-straight singles matches.
- With Saturday's other results, UMass Boston and Western Connecticut State University (1-0) are the only remaining undefeated conference teams.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will face a stiff test on Thursday, when they travel to Endicott College for a non-conference match at 3:30 p.m.
