SOMERVILLE, MA (May 7, 2023) -- The Tufts University men's tennis team had no problems in the NCAA Tournament Third Round on Sunday afternoon, breezing past No. 37 MIT to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals with a 5-0 victory in action from South Courts on a gorgeous day in Somerville.
With the win, No. 2 Tufts (22-1) will travel down the United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Campus in Orlando, Florida this weekend for the Elite 8 round against No. 7 Emory University. The Eagles knocked off North Carolina Wesleyan University 5-4 Sunday in Rocky Mount, NC. Those two teams will join Gustavus Adolphus, Claremont-Mudd-Scripts, Bowdoin College, Middlebury College, Case Western Reserve University and Washington University of St. Louis at the final site this upcoming weekend. The NCAA Quarterfinals will be played Saturday, May 13, with the semifinals being played Monday, May 15 and the finals on Tuesday, May 16 at 6 p.m.
The win for the Jumbos Sunday was the second in less than two weeks over the Engineers (16-12), but this was much more convincing than April 25's 7-2 triumph for the Jumbos. In doubles,
Josh Belandres and
Rishabh Sharda picked up their team-leading 18th doubles win of the season with an 8-3 win over Sundeep Chakladar and Wayne Nelms at the No. 2 spot. The Tufts' pair has won three straight and nine of its last 10. Tufts' advantage grew to 2-0 thanks to an 8-3 win at the No. 3 spot, as
Jack Moldenhauer and
Alex Ganchev needed just over 30 minutes to post an 8-3 win over Joseph Li and Derek Shen. Ganchev and Moldenhauer are now 17-4 together on the season.
The all-important doubles sweep came at the top spot for Tufts, as
Derin Acaroglu and
Vuk Vuksanovic pulled away from Daniel Papacica and Kailas Kahler for an 8-5 win. All three doubles' pairs for Tufts have gone 9-1 in their last 10 matches, and Tufts has picked up either a 2-1 or 3-0 split in doubles in all but two matches this season.
In singles, Sharda kept his hot playing of late as he cruised to yet another straight set victory of 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 singles to give the Jumbos their fourth point. The clinching point for the second straight day came at the No. 4 position, but Sunday it was Acaroglu who had the honors as he knocked off Ryan Xiao 6-1, 6-3 to move to 14-0 this season in singles play.
Tufts was up a set in the other four singles' matches when the match was halted due to completion.
"This match was exactly what the team needed," said head coach
Karl Gregor, who was promptly showered with a water cooler bath during the postgame interview. "We've been on a streak of not playing our best tennis despite winning a lot of matches. I think the coaches and players felt that we weren't executing like we should and had, and today we got back and got it going and played great."
The trip to the NCAA Quarterfinals is Tufts' second consecutive, after making it to the NCAA Semifinals in 2022. The Jumbos just finished hosting the NCAA Opening Round for the first time in program history.
Saturday's NCAA Quarterfinal Match time with Emory University has yet to be set, but check back at gotuftsjumbos.com during the week for updated match times.
--JUMBOS--
