CLAREMONT, CALIF. -- Bowdoin College in Maine, ranked #15 in men's tennis in the NCAA Division III national rankings, defeated Willamette University, 9-0, on Wednesday, March 23, in Claremont, Calif. Trinity College (Conn.), ranked #14 in the nation, also downed Willamette on Wednesday, 5-0.
Willamette fell to 7-5 on the season, while Bowdoin upped its record to 4-2. Trinity improved to 2-1.
Bowdoin won all three doubles matches for a fast start. Samuel King and Stephen Sullivan, ranked #10 in the Northeast Region in doubles, defeated Willamette's Michael Baumgartner (So., Albany, OR/West Albany HS) and Matthew Houser (Sr., Vancouver, WA/Evergreen HS) in the #1 doubles match, 8-2.
Joshua Wong (So., Hilo, HI/Hilo HS) and Cody Ferguson (Jr., North Bend, OR/North Bend HS/Western Oregon Univ.) of Willamette put up a strong battle against the Polar Bears' team of Chris Lord and Casey Grindon at #2 doubles. Lord and Grindon edged out a 9-7 win.
Alex Jacobs and Josh Roer of Bowdoin triumphed at #3 doubles, 8-4, over Will Cooper (Fr., Gresham, OR/Centennial HS) and Garrett Vincent (Fr., Seattle, WA/Seattle Prep/Bellevue CC).
In the #1 singles match, Samuel King won for the Polar Bears over Baumgartner of WU, 6-0, 7-5. Bowdoin also won the remaining singles matches in straight sets.
Even so, competition at the #3 and #5 positions featured a tie-breaker in one of the sets. At #3 singles, Casey Grindon defeated Ferguson, 6-2, 7-6 (7-0). At #5 singles, Peter Davis achieve a slim victory over Cooper, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4.
Trinity surged out to a 3-0 advantage in doubles in Willamette's second match of the day. At #1 doubles, Anson McCook and Rich Bonfiglio downed Baumgartner and Houser, 8-3.
The Bantams triumphed in the first two completed singles matches, as Trinity clinched the win.
McCook defeated Baumgartner at #1 singles, 6-2, 6-2. David Dessau moved past Ferguson, 6-1, 6-0, at #3 singles. Once the overall match was decided, action in the remaining singles matches ended.
Willamette will take on Northwest Conference rival Lewis & Clark College on Saturday, March 26 in Portland, Ore. Match time is scheduled for 1 p.m. (PDT).
