Men's Tennis Captures Little East Tournament Title

By Jim Fenton

LAKEVILLE, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's tennis team is headed to the NCAA Division III tournament after a dramatic victory in the Little East Conference championship match.

Senior captain Ryan Hebert (Taunton, Mass.) won at No. 6 singles to break a 3-3 tie and give the Bears a 4-3 victory over defending champion Rhode Island College Saturday afternoon.

The match began at the Rosen Memorial Tennis Courts before rain forced it to be moved indoors to the Lakeville Athletic Club were BSU went 4-2 in singles.

The Bears (12-4) won the conference tournament in 2024 over RIC for their first trip to the NCAAs and lost to the Anchormen in last season's championship match.

BSU will learn its first-round opponent on Monday during the NCAA Selection Show, which begins at 12:30 p.m.

Freshman Will Horton (Lakeville, Mass.) was selected the tournament Most Valuable Player.

BSU is on a 10-match winning streak after edging RIC (11-4). The 12 wins are tied for the second-most in program history.

The 1978-79 team, which played 10 matches in the fall and six in the spring, went a combined 15-1. The 1977-78 team won a combined 12 matches in the fall and spring.

The Bears trailed RIC, 1-0, after losing two of the three doubles matches and it was 3-3 with only No. 6 singles remaining.

Hebert secured the championship for BSU with a 6-2, 6-1 win over sophomore Kyle Neuendorf (Attleboro, Mass.).

The victory improves Hebert to 12-2 in singles and he is also 10-3 playing doubles with Horton.

The first point of the day went to RIC, which won two of the three doubles matches.

Sophomore Travis Chartier (Rehoboth, Mass.) and Neuendorf gave the Anchormen a 6-3 victory over senior Adam Beatrice (Rockland, Mass.) and junior Khiem Nguyen (Burlington, Vt.) at No. 1 doubles.

BSU won No. 2 doubles with Horton and Hebert defeating sophomores Ethan Clegg (Chepachet, R.I.) and James McShane (Riverside, R.I.), 6-3.

The decisive doubles point was scored by RIC's No. 3 team of senior Sairaj Srinivasan (Cedar Grove, N.J.) and freshman John Vaughan (East Providence, R.I.) over juniors Tom Ayson (Plymouth, Mass.) and Anthony Lucas (Weymouth, Mass.), 7-6 (7-5).

Horton made it 1-1 by winning No. 1 singles over Chartier, 6-3, 6-3, and Lucas put the Bears up, 2-1, by winning No. 5 singles over Vaughan, 6-2, 6-4.

McShane tied it by winning No. 4 singles over Ayson, 6-2, 6-2, and Nguyen moved BSU back ahead, 3-2, with a 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 win over Srinivasan at No. 3 singles.

Clegg tied the match with a win at No. 2 singles over Beatrice, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-1.

BSU appeared in its fourth Little East championship match and is now 2-2. The Bears lost to UMass Dartmouth in 2012 before the three straight matchups with RIC.

The Anchormen played in their fourth consecutive championship match.

BSU's first trip to the NCAA resulted in a 5-0 loss to MIT at Middlebury, Vt.