AMHERST, MA (May 4, 2024) -- The No. 9 ranked Jumbos of Tufts University punched their ticket to the 2023 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship match Saturday morning, knocking off second-seeded Williams College 5-2 in the semifinals in action from the Amherst Tennis Courts.
With the victory, Tufts makes their third appearance in the NESCAC title match over the last four seasons while the Jumbos will look for their fourth all-time NESCAC title and first since 1989. The Jumbos will take on fourth-seeded Bowdoin College, which knocked off No. 1 seed Middlebury College 5-4 in the other semifinal.
As for the Jumbo victory, Tufts (16-5) started fast in doubles as the duo of
Corey Marley and
Sacha Maes knocked off Shawn Berdia and Leon Liu 8-2 to put Tufts up 1-0. The pairing moved to 13-1 on the season, while tallying their fourth straight victory.
Williams (15-4) battled back to tie the match at a point apiece, as Matt Kandel and Nicholas Chen bested
Alex Ganchev and
Vuk Vuksanovic 8- at the No. 1 spot. In the match to decide doubles, Tufts' pairing of
Derin Acaroglu and
Lachie Macintosh pulled past Kush Anand and Simon Volkema 8-6 to send the Jumbos into doubles action with the lead.
The Jumbos quickly pulled ahead 3-1 thanks to a strong performance at No. 6 singles, as
Garv Bahl posted his ninth straight singles' win with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Anand. Williams posted a win at No. 4 singles to make it 3-2, but Vuksanovic knocked off Kandel at No. 1 singles 6-4, 6-3 to give the Jumbos their fourth point.
The clinching point for the Jumbos would come at No. 2 singles, as
Javier Gonzalez knocked off Shawn Berdia 6-3, 6-4 for his ninth consecutive win to push the Jumbos into Sunday's title tilt. Ganchev was also leading 6-1, 5-4 when play was halted, while Macintosh was behind 6-2, 3-5 at the completion of the match.
Tufts will battle Bowdoin in the NESCAC title match for the first time in NESCAC Tournament history, while Sunday's No. 3 seed-No. 4 seed final will happen for the first time since the start of the Tournament in 2001.
--JUMBOS--
