CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—UMass Boston men's tennis won the final five singles matches to earn a comeback 6-3 win over Boston rivals Suffolk University Thursday night at Buckingham, Browne & Nichols.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 6, Suffolk University 3
(UMass Boston 3-3)
(Suffolk University 1-2)
HOW IT HAPPENED
After falling behind 2-1 after doubles, UMass Boston took the bottom five singles matches to earn their third-consecutive victory.
Miguel Beltran (Ashland, Mass.) was the lone Beacon to finish 2-0. The freshman teamed up with Austin DeLasse (Shrewsbury, Mass.) for a win at first doubles and he also claimed a win at second singles.
The Beacons' top doubles pair gave UMass Boston an early lead, as Beltran and DeLasse claimed an 8-4 win at first doubles.
Suffolk University struck back with 8-6 wins at second and third doubles to claim a 2-1 lead.
The Rams extended their advantage to 3-1, when Ariel Ilarslan Russo defeated DeLasse 6-1, 6-4 at first singles.
Beltran started the Beacons' comeback with a 6-2, 6-1 rout at second singles.
Senior Sanshrut Sharma (Mumbai, India) tied the match at 3-3 with a 6-4, 6-3 win at fourth singles.
Sophmore Onkgopotse Mokoka (Pretoria, South Africa) gave UMass Boston the lead for good at fifth singles. He easily blanked Suffolk's Rami Esrawi 6-0, 6-0 to make it 4-3 UMass Boston.
The Beacons clinched the victory at sixth singles. Tin Tran (Quincy, Mass.) was able to cruise past Kevin Greenman 6-2, 6-2 to earn the match victory.
In the closest singles match, junior Josh Bhasin (Tulsa, Okla.) earned a comeback 5-7, 6-0, 6-4 win over Suffolk's Mike DeFelice at third-flight singles.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Beltran went 2-0 in a match for the first time in his collegiate career. He had one career singles and doubles win prior to Thursday.
- After starting the season 0-3, UMass Boston has won three-straight matches and won 22 of a possible 27 total points.
- With the victory, UMass Boston earned their fifth-straight win over the Rams, and improved to 20-13 all-time against Suffolk.
- Bhasin and Sharma each earned their team-high third singles win of the season.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will open Little East Conference play on Saturday, when they host Bridgewater State University at 1 p.m.
