COLCHESTER, Vt. - First-years Mathis Billman (Brandon, Miss./South Carolina Connections Academy) and Julius van den Broek (Bergschenhoek, The Netherlands/Wolfert Lyceum) captured the final two singles matches to rally the fourth-seeded Saint Michael's College men's tennis team past No. 5 Bentley University, 4-3, in the opening round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship on Tuesday at the SMC Tennis Courts.

The Purple Knights, who claimed their first postseason win since defeating Bentley at home on April 22, 2008, tied the match on van den Broek's triumph at No. 6 before Billman won at No. 5 for the deciding point. Saint Michael's advances to face No. 1 Le Moyne College in a semifinal on Thursday at 1 p.m.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (9-11), Bentley (6-9)

LEADERS

• Van den Broek, 2 wins
• Billman, 1 win
• Senior Jason Boucher (Bedford, N.H./Bedford), 1 win
• Senior Josh Weiss (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Mendon), 1 win
• Sophomore Sergio Barroso (Madrid, Spain/Colegio Montpellier), 1 win

MATCH FACTS

• The Purple Knights defeated Bentley for the second straight Tuesday after entering last week 6-32 in the all-time series. Saint Michael's downed the Falcons at home for the first time since that postseason victory during the 2007-08 season, which was also the only other year the Purple and Gold beat Bentley twice in a season.
• Saint Michael's improved to 7-2 in its last nine matches, and tied the 2000-01 and 2007-08 teams for second in program history with nine wins, short only of the 1980-81 squad's record of 10.
• The Purple Knights will make their second semifinals appearance, and first since 2007-08.
• Boucher extended his school record to 68 career wins, with 33 now coming in singles, just one short of Ben Wynn's '94 (34) record. Boucher tied his own school record with 24 total victories this season.
• Weiss picked up his 13th singles win this season, tying a record Boucher set last year and Barroso tied this year. Weiss matched Wynn for fifth in total career wins (55) while equaling John Lescure '09 and Craig Lindabery '10 for seventh with 28 career singles victories.
• Saint Michael's was 10th in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Region Poll, while the Falcons stood eighth.

THE ACTION

• As Boucher and Weiss finished a 6-3 loss at No. 2 doubles, Barroso and van den Broek completed a 6-3 victory in the third spot, winning the final six games following a 3-0 deficit.
• That put the focus on Court 1, where Billman and junior Tristian Du Plessis (Rustenburg, South Africa/Hoërskool Waterkloof/Wallace State CC) led 4-3 before yielding the next two games. With Bentley serving, the tandem rallied to force deuce, but the Falcons won the next point to claim the 6-4 match victory and secure the doubles point.
• Junior Jackson Moser (Missouri City, Texas/Ridge Point) lost a 6-2, 6-2 decision at No. 2 to begin singles play, and Bentley forged a 2-0 lead. The Purple Knights soon tied the match, as Boucher won 6-4, 6-0 in the third position and Weiss finished off a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the top spot against a Falcon who took him to a third-set super tiebreaker just last Tuesday.
• Barroso was downed by a 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4, bringing Bentley to the brink of victory thanks to a 3-2 lead.
• However, van den Broek, in just his second singles match against an NE10 opponent, earned a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 6 to push his winning streak to three matches and tie the match. Billman capped the comeback with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the fifth spot, moving to 6-1 in his last seven outings.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S MATCH

• Thursday at Le Moyne, 1 p.m. in NE10 Championship semifinal.