MIDDLETOWN, CT (May 3, 2026) -- The No. 4 Tufs University men's tennis squad earned its first New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) title since 1989, claiming its fourth all-time league crown Sunday afternoon with a 4-1 win over No. 6 Bowdoin College in action from Wesleyan University John Wood Memorial Courts. 

The Jumbos (22-2) have now won 16 straight matches overall after sweeping through the NESCAC Tournament, and earn the NESCAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament field which will be unveiled Monday on NCAA.com. 

Sunday's thrilling victory for the Jumbos didn't start out as they would have wanted, as Bowdoin (17-4) earned the first doubles' match with a 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles. The Jumbos' senior duo of Sacha Maes and Alex Ganchev helped rally the Jumbos back to even the score in doubles, knocking off Mark Kneiss and Jackson Codd 6-2. 

Still though, Bowdoin led 5-2 at No. 3 doubles and looked poised to take a 1-0 lead into singles' play. That was before senior Javier Gonzalez and Stavros Mastrogamvrakis turned it on, winning the final five games including two breaks of serve on the way to a 7-5 win to take all of the momentum and the doubles' point into singles' play. 

Tufts played well in the individual portion of action, as Ganchev cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Kiran Garapati at No. 2 to push the Jumbos' lead to 2-0. It marked Ganchev's 15th straight win, and he has not lost to a Division III opponent this spring. 

Minutes later, junior Garv Bahl gave the Jumbos a 3-0 lead with his 13th straight win this spring and team-leading 20th win overall as he won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4 singles over Cameron Zia. 

Bowdoin would get a win at No. 1 singles, as Kneiss bested Gonzalez 6-2, 6-2, but the clinching point came at No. 3 for Tufts thanks to senior Andrej Djokic. Djokic won the first set 6-4, and led 4-1 in the second before Codd rallied to tie the set at four games apiece. Djokic would earn a break in the next game, and then held serve in his game as his flying forehand forced an errant return that landed out and handed the Jumbos the title. 

Both other matches were abandoned when Djokic claimed the victory.

The victory Djokic's sixth straight win overall in single's play. Tufts has now gone 110-25 in dual match singles' action this spring. The NESCAC crown is Tufts' fourth overall, as Tufts won in 1984, 1986 and 1989.

The four NESCAC championships is now tied with fourth with Bowdoin College, while the conference crown was the first for head coach Karl Gregor.