Weymouth, Mass.—Third-seeded Rhode Island College lost to No. 2-seeded Salem State, 5-0, in semifinal action of the 2019 Little East Men's Tennis Championship at the Weymouth Club on Friday afternoon.
THE BASICS
Salem State 5, Rhode Island College 0
Salem State (9-4)
Rhode Island College (10-5)
HOW IT HAPPENED
• SSU took a 1-0 lead in the match as sophomore Andrew Muttiah (Colombo, Sri Lanka) and senior Chen Chen (Lawrence, MA) defeated sophomore Alex Bourque (North Smithfield, RI) and senior Alan Esposito (Clinton, CT), 8-1
• The Vikings went up, 2-0, as sophomore Roni Bazile (Brockton, MA) and junior Mitchell Dyer (North Attleboro, MA) bested the RIC tandem of senior Chandler Scott (Ashaway, RI) and sophomore Mike Shea (Smithfield, RI), 8-1, at No. 2 doubles.
• Salem State made it a clean sweep in doubles as junior Noah Hodgkins (Winthrop, MA) and freshman Moses Ba (Lynn, MA) defeated senior Matt Gambardella (West Warwick, RI) and sophomore Ethan Hoy (West Warwick, RI), 8-7 (13-11), at No. 3 doubles.
• Chen defeated Hoy (6-0, 6-0) at No. 4 singles and Muttiah beat Bourque (6-1, 6-0) to end the match.
• RIC season comes to an end in the setback.
