BRUNSWICK

The Bowdoin College men’s and women’s tennis teams are at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn., for today’s NCAA Division III team quarterfinals.

In men’s play, the defending national champion Polar Bears take on Washington (Missouri) University at 2 p.m.

The Bowdoin women open at 11:30 a.m., facing Emory.

The NCAA will provide a live webcast of selected courts and live stats from the tournament.

Here is a look at the teams:

Men

Bowdoin is making its fourth appearance in the NCAA quarterfinals and will look to repeat as national champions.

The Polar Bears had not advanced past the quarterfinals in their two previous appearances (2002, 2012) until going 3-0 at the championship site to claim the title last spring.

No team has repeated as Division III men’s tennis national champions since Williams (2001-02), and the tournament has gone the longest of any NCAA Division III men’s championship sport without a repeat champion (14 years).

The Polar Bears have tied the program record for wins in a season (20), established last year, and claimed their first NESCAC Championship since 2008 with a victory over Middlebury on May 7.

Bowdoin opened its season 11-1 and were ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation before going 6-3 in April.

Bowdoin rebounded once it reached postseason play, going 3-0 in the NESCAC Tournament and posting consecutive 5-0 sweeps in their NCAA regional to advance to the quarterfinals.

The Polar Bears will face an unfamiliar opponent in the quarterfinals — Washington University. Bowdoin has not faced Wash U. since March 2014 when the Bears defeated Bowdoin, 7-2 in a match played in Claremont, Calif. No current Bowdoin player competed in that match.

Bowdoin is the only team among the final eight that does not have a senior on its roster. Grant Urken earned First Team All-NESCAC honors in selections announced recently. Bowdoin’s No. 2 player in the lineup has recorded a 27-6 overall record this season, three shy of the program’s single-season mark (30, Colin Joyner in 2001-02). Urken and doubles partner Luke Tercek also earned All- NESCAC honors and have qualified for individual NCAA’s, posting a 12-9 mark at No. 1 doubles this spring.

Bowdoin’s depth has proven to be the difference in several matches this spring as the Polar Bears own a 33-9 mark at No. 5 and 6 singles play this year. Gil Roddy is 17-2 this year and has also teamed with Justin Patel to card an 18-4 mark at No. 3 doubles.

Head coach Conor Smith earned NESCAC Coach of the Year recognition for the second straight year and third time in his six seasons at the helm of the Polar Bears. His 94 wins are the most by a coach in program history and he boasts an overall record of 94-34 (.734 winning percentage).

Women

Bowdoin is making its fifth appearance in the NCAA quarterfinals, all under current head coach Hobie Holbach.

The Polar Bears made their first ever appearance in the NCAA semifinals a year ago, defeating Claremont Mudd Scripps in the quarterfinals before falling to Williams in the semifinals. The Polar Bears have qualified for the quarterfinals on four previous occasions (2008, 2012, 2014, 2016). This senior class (Joulia Likhanskaia, Pilar Giffenig, Samantha Stalder) are the first class in Bowdoin women’s tennis history to qualify for three national quarterfinals.

Bowdoin opened their season with a 9-1 record in its first 10 matches, reaching as high as No. 3 in the ITA Division III rankings. The Polar Bears scuffled a bit in April, going through a 2-3 stretch before bouncing back to win five of their last six matches, including two wins over seventh ranked Wesleyan in the last two weeks.

The Polar Bears’ five losses this season have come to the current No. 12 (Amherst), No. 4 (Williams), No. 2 (Middlebury, twice) and No. 1 (Claremont Mudd Scripps) teams in the nation. Bowdoin has defeated the No. 5 (Pomona), No. 6 (Tufts) and No. 7 (Wesleyan, twice).

The only team in the top eight that Bowdoin has not faced this season is Emory. The last meeting between the teams came last spring (2016) when the Eagles took an 8-1 regular season victory in a match played at Middlebury. The only previous meeting in NCAA play between the two schools came in 2012 when Emory edged Bowdoin, 5-2 in the national quarterfinals.

Likhanskaia was named First Team All-NESCAC in singles and doubles (with partner Stalder) this season. The ITA Northeast Senior Player of the Year is 16-6 at the No. 1 spot this spring and owns 74 career wins, the second most ever by a Bowdoin player (76 by Kristen Raymond, 2005-08). Likhanskaia and Stalder (17-8 in doubles play) qualified for individual nationals for the Polar Bears, as did Tess Trinka, who owns an 20-6 overall record in singles this year.

In his 10th season, Holbach is already the winningest coach in program history, leading the Polar Bears to a 135-71 (.655 winning percentage) over his decade at the helm.