UMass Boston’s top team is back and in the final set of history. The defending Little East Conference Champions are aiming to become the third team to three-peat an LEC title in school history — men’s baseball did it in years ‘17, ‘18 and ‘19, and men’s soccer through the ‘14, ‘15 and ‘16 seasons, while women’s volleyball sits alone achieving a three-peat twice, including a five year run from 2009-2013.
Returning are two now-senior stars, Elena Albano and Ayonna Stuppard. They combined for a 21-2 singles record last year and 14-0 in-conference. Lydia Chan, a graduate student, is back as well. She went 11-2 in singles last year and undefeated in the LEC. In fact, the Beacons have brought almost everyone back. The entirety of last year’s roster returns except for the graduated Meagan Carney.
There is, however, one more notable departure — Jovan Jordan-Whitter. The championship-winning interim head coach of last year was hired at the University of New England to coach their men’s and women’s tennis teams. UMass Boston has brought in Malcolm Neville to take over; it’s his second chance at the helm in the NCAA.
The Beacons have demonstrated the talent to win and could take first place in spite of coaching if need be. They may have just gotten better in the midst of a historic run, keeping their window wide open because of their youth. They have their seniors and a graduate, but UMass Boston wields young talent as well — Sandra Watson went 10-0 as a freshman in singles last year, winning all doubles matches. LEC Rookie and Player of the Year, Zainab Patel, is ready to take another step. Kaya-Lilliana Rutkowski also showed a lot of promise as a freshman last year.
There’s nothing to pick at when it comes to this team, which drives the expectations even higher. A massive run is there for the Beacons; the question is if they can ride that wave and sustain their dominance. They’ve held a 16-0 record in the regular season against LEC opponents since 2022 — nobody in the LEC has beat them in two seasons.
It took 27 years for this program to break through for their first title in 2022. Now they’re entering this season as the unanimous favorite to win the LEC championship according to the coaches poll — high expectations for the once hopeless operation.
When one team dominates everybody else that strongly over such a long period of time, everybody else sets their sight on the powerful team. The entire conference’s focus will be not just on dethroning the Beacons, but dismantling them. The field is hungry, and three-peats are hard — just ask the Buffalo Bills.
The third one’s going to be the hardest.