Men's Tennis Captures LEC Regular Season Title Outright with 5-4 Win Over UMass Boston

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University men's tennis team captured the Little East Conference (LEC) regular season title with a 5-4 victory over visiting UMass Boston on Saturday afternoon at the Rosen Memorial Tennis Courts.

The LEC regular season crown marks the second in BSU men's tennis history and first since 2006.

The Bears improve to 6-4 on the season and 6-0 in the Little East while the Beacons fall to 4-5 overall and 2-4 in conference play. Bridgewater has won each of the last three matches between the two teams while UMass holds a slight 19-18 edge in the all-time series which dates back to 1985.

Bridgewater captured two of the three doubles matches while the Bears and the Beacons split the six singles flights.

For the Bears in doubles play, Robby Cooney (Plymouth, Mass.) and Matthew Krampf (Littleton, Mass.) earned an 8-2 win at second doubles while Ryan Hebert (Taunton, Mass.) and Tyler Barros (Somerset, Mass.) teamed up for an 8-2 triumph at number three.

Kevin Kubinec (East Boston, Mass.) and Thomas Tran (Malden, Mass.) recorded an 8-3 decision for the Beacons' lone doubles point at the first flight.

Straight set wins by Barros at number six singles (6-0, 6-0) and Tom Ayson (Plymouth, Mass.) at the third flight (6-1, 6-0) gave the hosts a 4-2 lead before Hebert secured the decisive fifth point with a 6-2, 6-1 straight set victory at the fifth spot.

UMass recorded singles wins by Rudraksha Trivedi (Gujarat, India) at number one (4-6, 6-4, 10-7), Kubinec at the second flight (6-2, 6-2) and Tran at number four (6-2, 0-6, 6-4).

The Bears wrap up regular season play on Monday (3:00 PM) at home against Curry College. The Beacons are the #5 seed in next week's Little East Tournament and will travel to Salem State University on Tuesday afternoon to take on the fourth-seeded Vikings in the quarterfinal round.