Courtsey of Brian Beard

The men’s tennis team (11–1; 5–1 NESCAC) secured two NESCAC wins this past weekend, defeating Middlebury College (8–5; 4–2 NESCAC) 4–3 on Saturday, followed by a 7–0 win against Williams College (5–5; 3–2 NESCAC) on Sunday. These victories continue the team’s successful spring season, with only a single loss to Tufts (13–1; 5–0 NESCAC) in an otherwise perfect record.

According to captain Pieter Breuker ’25, the team focused on maintaining momentum this past weekend and going forward as it approaches the final stretch of NESCAC play.

“It was a momentum-based weekend for us, and winning against Middlebury in that fashion was really exciting for the guys. I think the way that guys pulled through against Middlebury allowed them to have the confidence to do it again against Williams,” Breuker said. “All these matches were such coin flips, so I think the extra bit of confidence that we knew we were going to play to win in those big moments [was important]. We knew that we could do that just based off of not just the Middlebury match, but all the practice that we put in that week.”

The weekend began with a tough fight against Middlebury, highlighted by several exciting singles performances from Kiran Garapati ’28 and Breuker. Breuker faced an opponent whom he had never defeated in his career at Bowdoin. After losing the first set, Breuker adjusted his mindset and managed to break his opponent for the win.

Mick Tamas ’26 spoke to the other tight matches, where several players pulled out exciting victories in the high energy atmosphere.

“I think that overall the environment was very similar to singles—there were definitely moments where the unbiased spectator would rather be Middlebury. And it looked like they had a lot of opportunities to close it out, but we were able to put our heads down, keep working and trust the process, stick to our primary patterns and go with what we’re comfortable with. It ended up being favorable to us in the end,” Tamas.

The Polar Bears carried their momentum into Sunday’s match against Williams. A tougher opponent than Middlebury, Williams pushed the College to the next level, but the Polar Bears came out with a surprising, yet dominating, 7–0 sweep.

“I think if I didn’t pull through against Middlebury, maybe that wouldn’t have happened against Williams. So it really showed me how mental the game is and how important it is to stay in the present when things aren’t going well, and during the ups and downs of these matches, because there’s always time to come back,” Breuker said. “And it’s great for our younger guys to have a weekend where they either did win a really tight match, or they witnessed someone coming back.”

Against Williams, securing the doubles point in a long tie-breaking match helped push similar success heading into the singles matches. Reflecting on its successes and spring season so far, the team emphasized its focus on maintaining tough, productive practices and continuing player development to ensure they are at their best for postseason play in May.

“You win the weekend during the week,” Breuker said.

Garapati added that, along with the team’s focus on upcoming opponents and strategy, practices are also aimed at furthering team unity.

“Collectively as a team, we’re working on that cross-court energy, creating bubbles between courts so it doesn’t feel like a guy’s competing out there alone, like we’re all connected. That helps the guys bring out the best in each other,” Garapati said.

Following a less successful and more individual fall season, and with several teammates coming back after spending last semester abroad, the team has placed an emphasis on building collective team energy and culture.

“My main goal was just trying to connect the upperclassmen with the underclassmen and just kind of create a really fun, high energy environment that hopefully other people can feed off of. And I think that really a lot of credit [is owed] to our coach. He’s also really been doing a great job in terms of fostering a really competitive but fun environment within our practices. And I think that this team is starting to find its identity,” Tamas said.

The team will strive to continue to develop this team identity as it pushes toward their goal of making the NCAA tournament one game at a time. Looking ahead, the team will face Hamilton College (11–4; 2–4 NESCAC) and Amherst College (9–4; 5–1 NESCAC) in away matches this weekend.