This past weekend, UMass Boston played host to the Little East Conference Men’s Tennis Championships. The competition was fierce between the three deepest teams: UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth, and Western Connecticut State University. UMass Dartmouth behind WCSU 1.5 points after Friday’s matches pulled ahead of the pack and won by a close margin of 4 points. This is UMass Dartmouth’s seventh consecutive tournament win; Rhode Island College was the lastschool to taste victory in the conference championship, capturing the title in 1995. Since 1996, UMass Dartmouth has owned the tournament.

Singles tennis, however, is not a team sport. In a tournament of this type, the biggest advantage is depth and UMass Dartmouth displayed their depth over the two-day tournament. No team in the Little East Conference can match the depth of UMass Dartmouth. But in this year’s run for the title, UMass Boston almost made up for its lack of depth with great play from its stars.

Quazi Sadruzzaman was spectacular, winning the first Singles (the top flight) for the second year in a row, Sadruzzaman became the first player to repeat as Singles champ since John Guilfoy in 1998, and the only player in tournament history to do it in his first two years of eligibility. Sadruzzaman was seeded third of six, meaning he would not get a first round bye. His first opponent, Julio Andrade of Rhode Island College, was a rather typical player of the struggling RIC organization, a 130 lb. freshman. He put up a modest fight but he went down by the score of 8-3.

Sadruzza-man’s next match, which was the most exciting of the tournament, was against his nemesis Eric Calderwood of Plymouth State College. The 80’s Celtics had the Lakers, the Red Sox have the Yankee’s, and Quazi Sadruzzaman the 5-7 140 lb., sophomore from Somerville, has Eric Calderwood. The two players strategies could not be more different. Quazi is at his best when playing at the baseline; he plays conservative, avoiding mistakes, while wearing down his opponent. Calderwood comes to the net for a big smash whenever possible preferring the quick point and featuring a powerful and accurate stroke.

In their meeting earlier this year, Calderwood won in three grueling sets securing the first round bye for himself, and making it that much harder for Sadruzzaman to repeat.

This time around the match began much the same way, Sadruzzaman won the first set 6-4, then dropped the second set this time 6-1. The momentum had swung behind Calderwood well into the third set going up 5-2. Down five games to two and facing elimination, Sadruzzaman dug deep and broke Calderwood’s serve. By now the bigger less agile Calderwood was beginning to show signs of fatigue while Sadruzzaman, who had played two games on the previous day, looked to be getting stronger. He then won his game and broke Calderwood’s serve again.

The third set was all tied, when suddenly Sadruzzaman was on the ground clutching his leg, a ripple went through the crowd, a trainer ran onto the court, and talk of forfeit filled the anxious crowd.

Yet, Sadruzzaman would not be stopped by anything short of total victory. He stepped back onto the court and continued his comeback.Sadruzzaman now had the match under his control hitting shots with precision and spin that Calderwood could not handle.

After coming off the high of that upset victory, Sadruzzaman made short work of his last opponent Max Barry, Western Connecticut State’s favorite son. He frustrated Barry, winning easily in strait sets 6-0 6-2.Sadruzzaman became the first UMass player to win the championship in back to back years. Kim Yangalso won, beating Mitchell Case of Western Connectiut State, 6-4, 6-1, and Dan Cohen of UMass Dartmouth in the finals, 7-5, 2-6, 6-2, to win the fourth singles. David T-J Yeoh was a finalist in the sixth singles final, but he came up short against Frank Birkenstock of UMass Dartmouth, 6-1, 6-2.

In the doubles matches, the Beacons had two pairs in the finals. Hiro Takeda and Punkid Lowhchai were one of the first doubles finalists, and Sadruzzaman and Yang compromised of the other pair. However, neither pair managed to win.

UMass Boston finished the tournament with 14 points.Rhode Island College, once the Little East power house, failed to win a match in the tournament finishing with 0 points.