WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – With a new batch of talent looking to defend their Little East Conference title from a year ago under interim head coach Jovan Jordan-Whitter and his assistant Mason Bultje, UMass Boston Men's Tennis kicked off their official start to the regular season on Tuesday afternoon against University of Saint Joseph, falling to the Blue Jays, 7-2 

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 2, University of Saint Joseph 7

UMass Boston (0-2)

University of Saint Joseph (6-3)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Playing with only four players, the Beacons were forced to forfeit a doubles match as well as two singles matches, putting them in a 3-0 hole at the beginning of play.

Junior transfer Patrick Ramos and freshman Maxwell Dill got Umass Boston on the board in the #1 Doubles, defeating freshmen Noah Rivera and Ryan Boucher, 8-6. The Beacons would drop the #2 Doubles as freshmen Patrick Gavrylchuk and Marko Karpyuk took down sophomores Melvin Nina and Felix Nguyen by a score of 8-1, giving the Blue Jays a 4-1 lead for the team score.

In a thrilling #1 Singles, Ramos defeated Rivera in three sets. Dropping the first one 7-5 before coming back to win 6-4 and then take the decisive third set in tiebreaker fashion, 19-17, to give the Beacons their second victory of the day. 

Dill and Nguyen would fall in the #2 and #4 Singles by scores of 6-1 and 6-1 in two sets to Karpyuk and sophomore Jonathan Huot respectively which clinched the victory for University of Saint Joseph. 

The #3 Singles would go to three sets between Nina and Gavrylchuk, after Nina dropped set one, 6-1, and came back to win set two, 7-5. In the deciding third set, Nina would fall 10-4 in the tiebreaker.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Patrick Ramos starts his UMass Boston career with a 2-0 record
• This was the first matchup between UMass Boston and USJ in program history 

WHO'S NEXT

UMass Boston prepares for their second of three matches this week on Thursday afternoon against Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts at 3:00 PM. The Beacons are 3-6 against the Cougars in the series history, going 3-2 in their last five matches against them after dropping the first four.