GORHAM, Maine – Looking to build some momentum heading into the Little East Conference Tournament next week, the 2022 LEC Championship UMass Boston Men's Tennis team got a big victory over the University of Southern Maine on Wednesday afternoon, 5-4, for the second conference win of the season. This evening, the Little East Conference confirmed UMass Boston will enter the tournament as the fifth seed.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 5, University of Southern Maine 4
UMass Boston (2-7, 2-3 LEC)
University of Southern Maine (1-8, 0-5 LEC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior transfer
Patrick Ramos notched his seventh doubles win of the season, competing in the #1 Doubles with freshman newcomer
Ryan Tran to take down sophomore Azam Jiwa and junior Cole Ouellette, 8-2. The dynamic duo of sophomore
Melvin Nina and freshman
Maxwell Dill won the #2 Doubles over junior Ethan Rudnicki and sophomore Zac Howe, 8-4, to give the Beacons a 2-0 edge in doubles.
Freshmen Landon Weaver and Alex Lancaster would get one back for the Huskies in the #3 Doubles, defeating sophomore
Karsten Bourgoine and freshman
Grady Friedman, 8-4.
Needing three more wins, Ramos would win his sixth #1 Singles of the season, taking down Ouellette in straight sets by identical scores of 6-1. Nina would follow suit in the #2 Singles, defeating Jiwa, 6-0 and 6-2, bringing the Beacons within one win of the team victory.
Delivering in the #3 Singles, Dill would down Rudnicki in straight sets, 6-0 and 6-1, to secure the second conference win of the season for UMass Boston.
Making his singles debut, Tran fell to Howe in the #4 Singles, 6-2 and 6-1. In the #5 Singles and #6 Singles, Bourgoine dropped his match to Weaver, 6-3 and 7-5, while Friedman fell against Lancaster in three sets, with the final set tiebreaker going to Lancaster, 10-8.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Patrick Ramos improves to 7-1 in doubles while moving to 6-2 in singles this season
- Maxwell Dill and Melvin Nina are now 2-1 in LEC doubles matches this year and 2-2 overall
- Maxwell Dill is 3-1 in his last four singles matches
- UMass Boston has now won five consecutive matches against Southern Maine dating back to the 2016-17 season
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston closes their regular season this Saturday afternoon on the road with Little East Conference leading Salem State University at noon. This is a rematch of last year's LEC Tournament Championship in which the Beacons won 5-0 to capture the conference title and secure their spot in the NCAA Tournament.
