WEYMOUTH, Mass.—#1 UMass Boston Boston men's tennis earned their fourth-straight trip to the Little East Conference Championship Match on Friday afternoon, as they swept rival #4 UMass Dartmouth 5-0 in the Little East Conference Semifinal Round.
THE BASICS
#1 UMass Boston 5, #4 UMass Dartmouth 0
(UMass Boston 12-5)
(UMass Dartmouth 8-11)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The top-seeded Beacons swept doubles to take control and received singles wins from Nandish Shah (Ahmedabad, India) and Alexander Comerchero (Brookline, Mass.) to punch their ticket back to the title match.
#1 UMass Boston will take on #2 Salem State University on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Little East Conference Title Match. The Vikings defeated UMass Boston 5-1 in last year's LEC Title Match.
Comerchero and Onkgopotse Mokoka (Pretoria, South Africa) opened the match with a dominant 8-0 win at third doubles.
UMass Boston made it 2-0 at number one singles. Miguel Beltran (Ashland, Mass.) and Shah were in a tight match early on, before pulling away for an 8-4 victory.
The closest doubles match was at second doubles, as Ray Platteel (Holbrook, Mass.) and Roy Platteel (Holbrook, Mass.) went back-and-forth with UMass Dartmouth's Eli Brooks and Baylen Harper. With the Beacons leading 6-5, Roy Platteel held serve and then the Beacons earned a break to close out double with an 8-5 victory.
UMass Boston kept the momentum going into singles, as the Beacons quickly took the first set at second singles and six singles.
After a tight first set, Shah became the first player to earn an overall win, as he defeated Brooks 6-4, 6-0 at number one singles.
Comerchero ended his match moments later, as the sophomore cruise past Anthony Joseph 6-4, 6-1 at fourth singles.
Mokoka was only a few points away from tacking on a sixth point, as the Beacons' junior captain was leading 6-2, 5-2 at sixth singles.
Beltran also held an edge at second singles. He was leading 6-1, 4-5, when the match concluded.
UMass Dartmouth held the lead at third and fifth singles before the match finished.
BY THE NUMBERS
- UMass Boston will be making their fourth-straight appearance in the LEC Championship Match and sixth in the past seven years. The Beacons won their second and third-ever LEC Tournament Championships in 2013 and 2017.
- With the win, UMass Boston earned their sixth-straight win over their rivals and improved to 16-22 all-time against the Corsairs.
- The Beacons improved to 3-1 all-time against UMass Dartmouth in LEC Tournament play.
- Friday's win marked Charles' Lai's ('15) first collegiate postseason match as a head coach and first collegiate postseason win.
- Shah earned his 11th-straight singles victory and his 12th of the season. The freshman is 12-2 in singles play and 24-6 overall.
WHO'S NEXT
The top-seeded Beacons will look to avenge last seasons' loss in the LEC Title Match, when they host #2 Salem State University in the LEC Finals at the Weymouth Tennis Club Lower Bubble at 1 p.m.