The men's tennis team posted a late comeback in its two final singles matches to topple 20th-ranked MIT last Friday. The Bears, ranked 14th in the nation, improved to 7-2.
Stephen Sullivan '11, Oscar Pena '12, Peter Davis '14 and Casey Grindon '13 all won their matches. Down 3-4 with Grindon and Davis having split sets, things did not look good for the Bears. Grindon was down 0-3, but stormed to the win in the third and won 6-4.
With the match tied at 4-4, Davis was the deciding and last match on court. After splitting sets, he fell behind 5-1 in the third set. "He dramatically got it back to 4-5 where he saved two match points. The match progressed to a tiebreaker that Davis won 7-3," according to head coach Colin Joyner '03.
"It was the most unbelievable comeback I've ever witnessed for Bowdoin tennis in seven years of coaching," he added.
Due to injuries, the Bears fielded a weaker lineup than usual, and it showed against fourth-ranked Amherst, Sullivan and Sam King '14 pushed the No. 1 doubles team in the region to 8-6.
Sullivan kept the momentum going and won his fifth straight singles match. He is now ranked No. 3 in the region while Pena is regaining his first year form after losing a year due to shoulder surgery. King impressed in singles play but fell in a super tie-break in lieu of a third set.
"With our full lineup healthy we can definitely compete with Amherst when we will likely see them again at the NESCAC Conference Tournament," Joyner said.
The Polar Bears will face the defending National Champions Middlebury tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.