CLAREMONT, Calif. — The Bowdoin men's tennis team advanced to the national title match for the second time in the last three years following a 5-0 win over Chicago in the semifinals of the NCAA Division III Championship on Tuesday afternoon.
The Polar Bears (23-1) will face the only team to have beaten them this season — the Middlebury Panthers (24-4) — in the championship match Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET. The match will be carried live at GoUBears.com. Chicago ends its season with a record of 19-5.
For the second straight day, an impressive showing in doubles action gave the Polar Bears a commanding lead heading into singles play.
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Gil Roddy and Larry Zhao got Bowdoin on the board with an 8-2 win at number three before Grant Urken/Luke Tercek earned a win at number one doubles (8-4) to double the Polar Bear lead.
Kyle Wolfe/Jerry Jiang pulled away late, breaking serve to clinch an 8-6 win over Tyler Raclin and Jeremy Yuan and give Bowdoin a 3-0 advantage. Wolfe rolled in singles play, claiming a 6-3, 6-1 win at number three singles to put Bowdoin on the brink of victory.
With several matches seemingly destined for three sets, Gil Roddy broke a late serve in the second set and earned a 6-4, 6-4 victory over David Liu at number five to vault Bowdoin over the top.
The Bowdoin men's tennis team has defeated the University of Chicago 5-0 and will play Middlebury for the @NCAADIII Championship Wednesday at 2pm (ET)/11am (PT) #GoUBears #mesports #d3tennis @PolarBearTennis pic.twitter.com/ngPSFUI9Hu
— Bowdoin Athletics (@GoUBears) May 22, 2018
Wednesday's match will be a rematch of the 2016 NCAA Championship, won by Bowdoin 5-0 for the program's lone national title.
It will also be the third meeting of the squads this season. Middlebury earned an 8-1 win in the regular season on April 14 before Bowdoin claimed the NESCAC Championship with a 5-3 win on May 6.
