By Jim Fenton

WEYMOUTH, Mass. -- For the third straight season, the Bridgewater State University men's tennis team has advanced to the final round of the Little East Conference tournament.

The top-seeded Bears earned a spot in the championship match with a 4-0 semifinal-round victory over sixth-seeded Western Connecticut State University Thursday afternoon.

The match was moved indoors at the Weymouth Club from the BSU campus due to the weather.

BSU (11-4) will take a nine-match winning streak into the title round on Saturday afternoon (1:00 PM) against either second-seeded Rhode Island College or the third-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston at the Rosen Memorial Tennis Courts.

The Bears defeated RIC, 5-1, for their first Little East tourney championship in 2024 and lost to the Anchormen, 5-1, last season in a rematch.

BSU has reached 11 wins for the first time since 2009 and the nine-match winning streak is the longest in a single season since the 2006 team went 9-0.

The Bears won the first point against Western Connecticut State (6-15) by taking the two doubles matches and then clinched the victory with three singles wins.

Senior captain Adam Beatrice (Rockland, Mass.) and junior Khiem Nguyen (Burlington, Vt.) were winners at No. 1 over Jose Zambrano and Jack Buck, 6-2. The Beatrice-Nguyen team is now 9-5.

The duo of freshman Will Horton (Lakeville, Mass.) and senior captain Ryan Hebert (Taunton, Mass.) scored a 6-3 win over Aidan Burke and John Araujo at No. 2 doubles. Hebert and Horton are 9-3 in their first season together.

With the doubles point secured in BSU's favor, the No. 3 doubles match went unfinished. The Bears' third-flight tandem of juniors Tom Ayson (Plymouth, Mass.) and Anthony Lucas (Weymouth, Mass.) were leading 5-3 when doubles play was halted.

Beatrice made it 2-0 with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Buck at No. 2 singles and Lucas was a 6-0, 6-3 winner over Araujo. Lucas is now 8-4.

Hebert sealed the win at No. 6 singles by defeating Axel Javier, 6-2, 6-1. Hebert improved to 11-2 in singles play.

The number 1, 3 and 4 singles matches went unfinished after the Bears picked up the fourth victory of the day. Horton, Nguyen and Ayson were all up a set in their respective matches when Hebert secured the decisive point.

BSU had defeated the Wolves, 7-0, when the teams met in Connecticut on April 11.

The Bears now own a 12-11 record over Western Connecticut State since the Bridgewater joined the Little East in 2005.

BSU finished April with a 9-0 record, winning six times against Little East opponents with three non-conference wins.

A victory by the Bears on their home courts Saturday would move them into the NCAA Division III tournament for a second time in three years.

The Bears lost to No. 25 MIT, 5-0, in Middlebury, Vt., in 2024 in the program's first trip to the national tourney.