The Bowdoin College men’s tennis team won a trio of straight-set singles matches to take a 5-3 win over Washington University on Monday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Championship at The Champions Club.
The Polar Bears (21-4) set a program record for wins in a season with Monday’s triumph against the Bears and will make their second straight appearance in the national semifinals today against Emory.
Bowdoin took a quick 2-0 lead thanks to an impressive 8-2 win from Luke Tercek and Grant Urken at No. 1 doubles and an 8-5 victory from Gil Roddy and Justin Patel at No. 3. Washington was able to close the gap to 2- 1 following doubles play by carding an 8-5 win over Kyle Wolfe and Jerry Jiang at No. 2.
Urken made it 3-1 Bowdoin with a tidy 6-2, 6-1 victory at No. 2 singles, but the Bears bounced back with wins at No. 6 and No. 4 singles to even the score.
Roddy regained Bowdoin’s lead with a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 5 singles with two matches remaining on the court. Tercek won his first set 6-4 and, after falling behind early in the second set, found himself tied at 4-4. Tercek held serve to take a 5-4 lead and then broke serve to take the 6-4 win and clinch the match for Bowdoin.
Bowdoin will face Emory in the NCAA semifinals today at 2 p.m. The Polar Bears and Eagles have not played since the national semifinals last spring, when Bowdoin claimed a 5-4 victory en route to its first NCAA Championship.
Women
Bowdoin saw its season come to a close in a 5-1 loss to Emory in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Championship on Monday afternoon.
The eighth-ranked Polar Bears finish a sensational campaign with a record of 16-6, advancing to the finals site of the NCAA Championship for the third time in the last four seasons.
The third-ranked Eagles (16-6) advanced to the national semifinals for the ninth consecutive season.
Emory’s senior duo of Paula Castro and Michelle DeMeo opened the scoring, taking the third doubles match, 8-3, over Pilar Giffenig and Sasa Jovanovic. Bowdoin tied the score at second doubles as Tess Trinka and Tasha Christ upended Michelle Satterfield and Daniela Lopez, 8-6.
In the closest match of the session, Emory’s Katarina Su and Bridget Harding pulled away late for a hard-fought 9-7 win against Samantha Stalder and Joulia Likhanskaia to give the Eagles a 2-1 advantage heading to singles.
Emory put the match away with three quick singles wins in straight sets. Melissa Goodman notched Emory’s third point with a 6- 2, 6-0 win over Giffenig No. 5 singles. Moments later, Castro posted a 6-3, 6-1 decision over Jovanovic at No. 6 singles before Su came through with the clincher, 6-2, 6-0, over Christ at No. 4 singles.
Bowdoin’s senior trio of Likhanskaia, Stalder and Giffenig finish with 61 career victories and three NCAA quarterfinal appearances, making them the most successful class in Polar Bear women’s tennis history.
The doubles team of Likhanskaia and Stalder qualified for the NCAA Individual Championship beginning on Thursday. Likhanskaia and Trinka earned bids for the singles tournament.
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