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UMass Dartmouth's dominance of the Little East Conference continued for another season as the Corsairs once again captured the LEC Men's Tennis Championships. The Corsairs' seventh consecutive LEC men's tennis title highlighted the 2002 season which produced a 12-2 overall record and a 12-match winning streak.
By capturing three singles championships and two out of three doubles titles, UMass Dartmouth successfully defended its LEC Championship. For the Corsairs' men's tennis program, the championship was the seventh consecutive title and the first for head coach Chick Renfrew. The Corsairs took the LEC crown with a total of 20 points during the two- day event played May 3-4 at UMass Boston, four more than second-place Western Connecticut State (16). UMass Boston was third with 14.5 points.
Todd Cabral (Dartmouth, MA) was one of the heroes for UMass Dartmouth, brining home a pair of LEC Championships. Cabral teamed with Dan Cohen (Chelmsford, MA) to win the second doubles title with a 6-2, 6-2 win over UMass Boston and came back to clinch third singles with a 6-1, 6-0 decision over Western Connecticut.
UMass Dartmouth's Jason Warren (Fall River, MA) earned his fifth LEC championship in three seasons, teaming with his brother Tim Warren (Fall River, MA) to take the third doubles title. Warren has won two other doubles titles and two singles titles in the last two years. Tim Warren was one of three singles champions for UMass Dartmouth, taking the fifth singles title with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Western Connecticut. Frank Birkenstock (Remscheid, Germany) was the Corsairs' third singles winner, clinching the sixth singles championship with a 6-1, 6-2 win over UMass Boston.
The 2002 started slowly for the Corsairs as they dropped their first two matches of the season for an 0-2 record. But starting with an 8-1 LEC win over Southern Maine on April 6, UMass Dartmouth ran the table for the rest of the season. The Corsairs captured their next 12 matches in a row, never dropping more than two matches in any one event and putting together six 9-0 victories. A 7-2 win over Western Connecticut on April 27 gave the Corsairs a perfect 5-0 record and the LEC regular season championship.
Todd Cabral led the Corsair singles players with a perfect 14-0 record, the most victories on the squad for the 2002 season. Cohen was one win behind Cabral with a 13-1 record, followed by three players with 10 wins each. Volker Arnold (Echterdingen, Germany) and Romain Vernois (Grenoble, France) were each 10-3 playing at #1 and #2 singles, respectively, throughout the season, while Birkenstock was 10-1 for the season. Tim Warren posted a 9-3 record in singles as the Corsairs were 73-11 as a team in singles competition.
Todd Cabral and Cohen were the Corsairs' top doubles team, going 8-1, while the Warren brothers posted a 7-1 mark of their own. Arnold and Vernois were 6-1 as UMass Dartmouth put together a 32-8 record in doubles events. On the season, the Corsairs combined record in singles and doubles was 105-19, a winning percent of 84.7%.
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