AMHERST, Mass. – The Bowdoin Polar Bears and Tufts Jumbos will play for the 2024 NESCAC Men's Tennis Championship title on Sunday at Amherst College. The No. 5-seeded Polar Bears knocked off top-seeded Middlebury, 5-4, while the third-seeded Jumbos defeated No. 2 Williams, 5-2, in semifinal action.
Tufts claimed its 11th straight victory with a
5-2 win over Williams. The Jumbos took a 2-1 lead with wins in the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches. Gary Bahl earned a straight-sets win at No. 6 singles to push Tufts' lead to 3-1. The Ephs won on the No. 4 court to close the margin to one, but Vuk Vuksanovic won at No. 1, 6-4, 6-3 to give Tufts its fourth point of the match and Javier Gonzalez posted a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 2 to secure the victory for the Jumbos.
Tufts is playing in its third championship match in four tournaments and looking to win its first NESCAC title since the tournament moved to its current format. The Jumbos won NESCAC titles in 1984, 1986, and 1989.
Bowdoin outlasted Middlebury,
5-4, to win its third straight match and seventh of its last eight. The fifth-seeded Polar Bears won two of the three doubles matches to take a 2-1 lead. Middlebury gained some momentum on the singles courts, winning the first three completed matches at No. 2, No. 5, and No. 6 to take a 4-2 advantage. The three remaining matches all split the first two sets. Tristan Bradley (6-4, 6-7, 6-3) and Pieter Breuker (7-5, 4-6, 6-3) earned wins to knot the match at 4-4. The No. 4 match between Bowdoin's Mark Kneiss and Middlebury's Neel Epstein would be the clinching point. Kneiss led 3-1, but Epstein rallied to tie the match at 5-5 before Kneiss claimed the final two games to earn a 7-5, 6-7, 7-5 win in a match that lasted 3 hours and 33 minutes.
Bowdoin is making back-to-back appearances in the championship match. The 2023 NESCAC Runners-Up fell to Middlebury last season. As the No. 5 seed, the Polar Bears are the lowest seed to reach the championship match since Williams did as a No. 5 seed in 2015.
Tufts defeated Bowdoin, 6-3, on April 14 this season and the two teams have met just once in the NESCAC Tournament. The Polar Bears earned a 5-1 victory in the 2011 quarterfinals.
