UMBC

New Haven, Conn.—The third-seeded UMBC men’s tennis team won a heart-stopping 4-3 victory over second-seeded Stony Brook in the semifinal round of the America East Championships at Yale University.

UMBC advances to Sunday’s final, where they will take on top-seeded and nationally-ranked Binghamton.  The Bearcats, who won a 4-0 semifinal contest vs. Boston University, defeated UMBC, 6-1, in Vestal, N.Y. on April 10.

Nearly every match was hotly-contested in the marathon affair, which lasted nearly five hours. The double point came down to the No. 3 match, won by UMBC, as junior Mwali Phiri (Yonkers, N.Y.) and Joe Adewumi rallied to defeat the SBU duo of Rummel/Shvartz, 9-8.

After Retriever freshmen Gaulthier Berret (Lagny Sur Marne, France) gave UMBC a 2-0 lead with a straight set victory at the No. 4 slot, the Seawolves captured the next three singles matches. However, Berret’s countryman, freshman Adam Duprat, dropped the first set, but rallied for a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over Dil in the No. 3 position.

With the match knotted at 3-3, Retriever senior and clutch performer Fredi Voorman (Talinn, Estonia) split the first two sets at the No. 2 position. After dropping the second-set tie-breaker, Voorman got an early break of serve and defeated Epstein, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 to propel the Retrievers to the title match.

UMBC’s men won the 2007 championship and also competed in the 2008 title match, where they dropped a 4-3 decision to Binghamton.