BRUNSWICK, Maine— Sophomore Kiran Garapati (Chicago, Ill.) and first-year Simon Catanzaro (Santa Monica, Calif.) posted wins in both singles and doubles as No. 7 Bowdoin College defeated No. 12 Babson College, 4-1, in the third round of the NCAA Division III men's tennis tournament Sunday afternoon at the Pickard Courts.
With wins in 11 of its last 12 matches, Bowdoin improves to 19-4 overall and advances to the national quarterfinals for the third time in four years. Babson, which defeated Bowdoin last year in the NCAA Tournament to move on to the quarterfinals for the first time in program history, had an eight-match winning streak snapped and completes its season at 19-5 overall.
First-year
Sourish Gadhi (Morganville, N.J.) provided the highlight for the Beavers with a straight set victory at number six singles to account for the only team point.
The Polar Bears broke on top with a pair of victories to secure the doubles point. Junior Aden Dorros (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) and senior Mick Tamas (Portola Valley, Calif.) breezed past junior
Louis Bourn (Geneva, Switzerland) and first-year
Max Lidman (Stockholm, Sweden) at number six, 6-0, and Garapati and Catanzaro bested sophomores
Edward Wang (Burr Ridge, Ill.) and
Sebastian Mendoza (Weston, Fla.) at number two, 6-3. Senior Mark Kneiss (Athens, Greece) and junior Jackson Codd (Carlsbad, Calif.) were up on senior
Alexander Merson (Palisades Park, N.J.) and first-year
Maxim Zlobinsky (Greenvale, N.Y.) at number one, 5-3, when the Bowdoin point was secured.
Catanzaro extended the lead to 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Lidman at number five singles. Gadhi put the Beavers on the board with a 7-5, 6-2 decision over senior Andrew Mendelson (Los Angeles, Calif.), but the Polar Bears closed out the match with three-set wins by Codd over Zlobinsky at number three, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and Garapati over Wang at number two, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Merson won the first set in a tiebreaker over Kneiss at number one, 7-6, but trailed 4-3 in the second set when play was stopped. Sophomore Cameron Zia (Washington, D.C.) won the first set over Mendoza at number four, 7-5, but trailed 6-5 in the second set.
Bowdoin will face No. 1 Chicago in the quarterfinals on May 19 at the Champions Tennis Club in Chattanooga, Tenn. Merson will compete in the NCAA Division III Singles Championships at the same location beginning May 22.
MATCH NOTES
• Babson is 2-16 all-time against Bowdoin in a series that dates back to 1997.
• Since defeating Bowdoin in last year's NCAA tournament third round, Babson has fallen to the Polar Bears 7-0 in Claremont, Calif. back in March in addition to Sunday's outcome.
• The Mendoza-Wang duo finished the season with 27 doubles victories, which is the most by a pairing in single-season program history. Mendoza (31) and Wang (28) bother surpassed Merson's single-season doubles win mark of 22 set last season.
• Wang (45) and Mendoza (44) also surpassed Wang's single-season combined wins mark of 41 set last season.
• Merson's 19 singles wins this spring is tied for second on the program's single-season list, and Wang's career total of 86 combined wins ranks fifth all-time.
