The Bowdoin College men’s tennis team swept doubles play and punched their ticket to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second straight season with a 5-0 win over MIT in a regional final played Saturday at Pickard Courts.
MIT ended its year with a loss in the regional final to Bowdoin for the second straight season and finished with a record of 18-5.
Bowdoin completely dominated doubles play, jumping to early leads on all three courts and coasting to a 3-0 advantage. Gil Roddy and Justin Patel captured a 8-1 win at No. 3, while Jerry Jiang and Kyle Wolfe netted a 8-2 victory at No. 2. Luke Tercek and Grant Urken capped the doubles portion with a 8-3 win at No. 1.
In singles play, Roddy made quick work at No. 5, winning a 6-0, 6-2 decision. Patel took the first set of his No. 6 match 6-0 and rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the second set to clinch the match with a 6-3 victory.
The victory came at an opportune time for the Polar Bears, who trailed the Engineers by a set on the fourth other courts.
Bowdoin will be making its fourth NCAA quarterfinal appearance (2002, ’12, ’16) and will look to defend its national championship from a year ago.
On Friday, Bowdoin dispatched Nichols, 5-0, in less than 90 minutes.
The Polar Bears lost two games in three doubles matches, sweeping the Bison to take a commanding 3-0 lead. Tercek/Urken (8-0), Wolfe/Jiang (8-1) and Roddy/Patel (8-1) made it a clean sweep for the Polar Bears.
Needing just two wins in singles play, Urken posted a shutout at No. 2 (6-0, 6-0), and Roddy clinched it for the Polar Bears with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 5 singles.
Women
Pilar Giffenig won the clinching point in a dramatic three-setter to give Bowdoin a 5-4 win over Wesleyan in the regional finals on Saturday at Maine Pines Tennis Center.
The Polar Bears (16-5) advance to the national quarterfinals for the second consecutive year and third time in the last four years.
Wesleyan, which was looking for its first NCAA quarterfinal appearance, ended its year with a record of 12-5.
Bowdoin took an early 1-0 lead thanks to a quick 8-2 victory by Tess Trinka and Tasha Christ at No. 2 doubles against Helen Klass- Warch/Nicole McCann.
The Cardinals knotted the match at No. 1 doubles as Eudice Chong and Victoria Yu pulled away late for an 8- 5 win over Joulia Likhanskaia and Sam Stalder.
Bowdoin claimed the final doubles match at No. 3 as Giffenig and Sasa Jovanovic rallied from a 5-4 deficit to take an 8-5 win against Aashli Budhiraja/Dasha Dubinsky, giving the Polar Bears a key 2-1 edge heading to singles.
In singles play, the teams traded wins as Eudice Chong (6-3, 6-0), Victoria Yu (6-4, 6-4) and Aashli Budhiraja (6-4, 6-4) won at the top three positions for the Cardinals. Bowdoin got wins from Tasha Christ (7-5, 6-1) at No. 4 and Sasa Jovanovic (6-4, 6- 2) at No. 6, leaving No. 5 singles as the deciding match on the court.
In the lone three setter of the day, Giffenig claimed the first set against McCann, 6-3, only to have McCann come back to claim the second set, 6-3. In the deciding set, Giffenig went up 2-1 in the third set and controlled the match from there, finishing off the final game that featured four deuces, to win 6-2.
The Polar Bears will face Emory in the national quarterfinals on May 22 at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Bowdoin advanced to the regional final following a 5-0 win over visiting Colby- Sawyer on Saturday afternoon.
The Polar Bears swept doubles play to earn a quick 3-0 lead.
Bowdoin needed just two points to clinch the match and Stalder earned the first at No. 3 singles. Stalder finished off Maddy Gemerek, 6- 1, 6-0.
Jovanovic clinched the match in the six spot without dropping a game.
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