The Polar Bears beat Bates 6-3 last night, due in large part to the strength of their doubles line-up.
Bowdoin swept all three doubles matches, with Stephen Sullivan '11 and Oscar Pena '12 at number one with a score of 8-6, Chris Lord '14 and Sam King '14 at number two with a score of 8-2, and Casey Grindon '13 and Kent Winingham '12 at number three coming out 9-7.
In singles play, Sullivan beat Bates' Matt Bettles in a decisive match (6-3)(6-4), while number two King lost in a tie breaker (4-6)(6-4)(3-10). The Polar Bears go on to face Trinity tomorrow, which promises to be a tough match as the Bantams are currently ranked a notch above the Polar Bears. The team will then face Colby on Saturday before heading to the NESCAC tournament next week.
Over the weekend, the men's tennis team traveled to play Williams, the 10th-best team in the nation. Starting with doubles, Bowdoin won two of the three matches and was off to a good start.
The No. 1 pair of Sullivan and Pena defeated the Ephs duo 9-7, but Alex Jacobs '12 and Winingham lost 8-3 in their match. However, the No. 3 pair of Lord and King book-ended the Ephs with a win of their own with a score of 8-5.
Coach Colin Joyner has made doubles play a focus for this season and there seems to be only positive results for the Polar Bears, in terms of wins and team chemistry.
"Last weekend we lost to Middlebury [5-4] and this one we came close to beating Williams [5-4]," Joyner said. "It was tough to lose such a close match to one of the top teams in the country, but I think the team is finally convinced that we can be great. We won two doubles matches which was really important for us."
"For most of the season, doubles has been our weakness. Because of that we have been spending most of our time in practice working on it," he added. "Its great that it is finally coming together when everything matters most. We have a big weekend ahead of us and then playoffs where I think we can make a solid run for the national championship."
Sullivan then came back on the court for singles play; Rated No. 15 in the Northeast, he was slated to play against the No. 2 player in the region, Felix Sun. For Sullivan, this match was more than just business as usual.
"I was really happy with my performance this weekend," he said "I had lost to Felix in the semi-finals of ITA's [Intercollegiate Tennis Association Tournament] so I had been waiting all season to get another shot at him." Sullivan took his shot and then some, taking down Sun in two sets with scores of 6-4 and 6-3. Pena followed suit and won his singles match with scores of 6-4, 6-7, and 6-2.
"Sam King made his oppenent work hard, taking him to the final set but unfortunately lost to the 31st-best player in the Northeast 6-3, 1-6, and 6-2," Sullivan added. Then, the Polar Bears began to slip, as both Lord and Michael Power '11 lost their respective singles matches, handing Williams the overall win.
On Sunday morning however, the Polar Bears took out their frustrations on the hapless Hamilton Continentals with a score of 7-2.
Following that victory, Bowdoin is now 3-3 in NESCAC standings with three more league matches until the start of the playoffs. Bowdoin next faces Bates, Trinity, and Colby.
The men's team will play at Bates and the match against Trinity will be played at Harvard as it is being rescheduled from earlier in the season. Finally, the men will travel to Waterville for the regular season finale against the Colby Mules.