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| Rohan Gupte won in both singles and doubles play for the Jumbos |
BRUNSWICK, Maine - The #30 Tufts men's tennis team traveled up to #8 Bowdoin on Friday to close out their regular season schedule, and it came down to a three set match at No. 5 singles to determine a winner. After falling behind in doubles play, the Jumbos came back winning in the first through third singles positions. But, it wasn't enough as the comeback fell short at No. 5 singles, and the Jumbos were edged by the Polar Bears, 5-4.
The Polar Bears, ranked eighth in the latest Division III national poll, improve to 12-4 (5-3 NESCAC). Tufts is ranked 30th in the poll and falls to 8-7 (4-4 NESCAC). The Polar Bears will travel to play at Williams on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. The match concluded the regular season schedule for the Jumbos who will now await the seeding for the NESCAC Tournament.
On Friday afternoon, Bowdoin grabbed an important 2-1 edge following doubles play thanks to a tight 9-8 win by Noah Bragg and Kyle Wolfe at #3 over the pair of Jumbo rookies Zain Ali and Griffin Brockton. The duo of Gil Roddy and Kyle Wolstencroft had earned a 8-2 triumph at #2 over the Jumbo pair of junior Nick Cary and sophomore Benjamin Battle. At No. 1 doubles junior Nik Telkedzhiev and freshman Rohan Gupte fell to Bowdoin's Luke Tercek and Luke Trinka, 8-3.
Tufts stormed back in singles play, winning at the #1-3 positions. Telkedzhiev picked up a win in two sets at No. 1 singles over Trinka. At No. 2 singles Gupte fell in the first set before coming back to win over Bragg, 5-7, 6-0, 6-2. Ali took the courts at No. 3 singles and picked up an easy two set win over Wolfe.
Bowdoin got wins from Luke Tercek at #4 over Battle (6-2, 6-0) and Roddy at #6 over junior Jay Glickman (7-5, 6-4), setting the score at four apiece. Wolstencroft won his first set 6-3 over Jumbo junior co-captain Rob Jacobson, before dropping set two 2-6. In the third he took command, rolling to a 6-1 win and giving Bowdoin the match.
The Jumbos will now wait for the seedings for the NESCAC tournament to be announced. The tournament is May 1 through May 3 and will be hosted by Middlebury.
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