2012 NESCAC Men's Tennis Championship
Hosted by Williams College
First Round
 Semifinals
 Championship
Friday, May 4
 Saturday, May 5
 Sunday, May 6
No. 4 Middlebury 5, vs. No 5 Bates 4
 No. 1 Amherst 5, vs. No. 4 Middlebury 1
 No. 1 Amherst 5, vs. No. 3 Bowdoin 2
No. 3 Bowdoin 5, vs. No. 6 Trinity 0
 No. 3 Bowdoin 5, at No. 2 Williams 3
  
     
Live Stats - Match 1 / Match 2 Championship Preview  
     
May 6, 2012

Amherst Repeats as Men's Tennis Champion

Courtesy Amherst Sports Information

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Amherst men's tennis team successfully defended its NESCAC title with a 5-2 victory over Bowdoin College in Sunday's conference championship finals.

Joey Fritz '14 sealed the win for Amherst (29-2) by posting an impressive victory in the fourth singles match, giving the Lord Jeffs the NESCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.

Bowdoin (13-7) will hope for an at-large selection to the national tournament after upsetting third-ranked Williams College in Saturday's semifinals.

Sunday marked the second conference title in as many years for the Lord Jeffs, who have won 21 consecutive matches against NESCAC teams. As the defending NCAA champion, Amherst has posted a 65-3 overall record in the past two years.

Wes Waterman '12 and Chris Dale '14 gave Amherst a 1-0 lead with their 8-5 win over Casey Gordon and Chris Lord in the third doubles match. The Polar Bears quickly tied things up at 1-1 when their top pairing of Oscar Pena and Samuel King handed seniors Austin Chafetz and Luis Rattenhuber their first loss of the year, 8-2. Chafetz and Rattenhuber had been 9-0 as a duo since they began teaming up on Mar. 23.

It looked like Bowdoin was going to take a 2-1 lead into singles action, as Doug Caplan and Kyle Wolstencroft held leads of 4-1 and 7-6 over Amherst's Andrew Jung '12 and Mark Kahan '13 at number two. The Lord Jeffs battled their way back and earned a pivotal 9-8 win, giving Amherst a 2-1 advantage after the doubles session.

Chafetz avenged his loss in doubles play by cruising past King in the No. 2 matchup (6-3, 6-2), and Waterman soon brought the score to 4-1 in favor of Amherst with his 6-2, 6-3 win over Wolstencroft in the sixth matchup.

Amherst's 4-1 lead was deceiving, as Bowdoin battled back to tie the third and fifth singles matches at one set apiece. Pena then picked up a second point for the Polar Bears with a three-set win against Kahan (6-2, 1-6, 6-3) in the top spot, snapping Kahan's 30-match win streak and marking his first loss in singles play since Mar. 14, 2011.

Bowdoin looked poised for a comeback in the fourth singles match, as Grindon jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set after Fritz had won the first for Amherst, 6-2. Fritz faced a 5-3 deficit but wouldn't lose another game, battling back for the 7-5 victory to seal the title for the Lord Jeffs.

Amherst will be making its 14th appearance in the NCAA Championship, having posted a 22-12 record in the national tournament. The Jeffs finished as the national runners-up in 2009 and 2010 before earning the program's first-ever NCAA title last year.

The NCAA Regional Championships will begin Friday, May 11. More information will be posted on Monday when the tournament's participants and regional host sites are announced.

Amherst College 5, Bowdoin College 2

Singles competition
1. Oscar Pena (BOW) def. Mark Kahan (AMH) 6-2, 1-6, 6-3
2. Austin Chafetz (AMH) def. Samuel King (BOW) 6-3, 6-2
3. Luis Rattenhuber (AMH) vs. Chris Lord (BOW) 6-4, 5-7, 0-1, unfinished
4. Joey Fritz (AMH) def. Casey Grindon (BOW) 6-2, 7-5
5. Andrew Jung (AMH) vs. Noah Bragg (BOW) 6-3, 2-6, unfinished
6. Wes Waterman (AMH) def. Kyle Wolstencroft (BOW) 6-2, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. Oscar Pena/Samuel King (BOW) def. Luis Rattenhuber/Austin Chafetz (AMH) 8-2
2. Andrew Jung/Mark Kahan (AMH) def. Doug Caplan/Kyle Wolstencroft (BOW) 9-8 (7-5)
3. Wes Waterman/Chris Dale (AMH) def. Casey Grindon/Chris Lord (BOW) 8-5

Match Notes:
Bowdoin College 13-7
Amherst College 29-2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (2,6,1,4)

2012 NESCAC MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
Hosted by Williams College - Friday-Sunday, May 4-6

Schedule of Matches
First Round - Friday, May 4
1:00 p.m.
No. 6 vs. No. 3
No. 5 vs. No. 4

Semifinals - Saturday, May 5
1:00 p.m.
Winner of No. 5/No. 4 vs. No. 1
Winner of No. 6/No. 3 vs. No. 2

Championship - Sunday, May 6
 1:00 p.m.
Semifinal Winners

Format
The top six teams in the conference shall qualify for the championship.  The championship is a single-elimination tournament with no consolation matches.  The No. 1 seed and No. 2 seed shall receive a first round bye.  All matches will be played to decision.

Inclement Weather (Tentative)

In foul weather, the women's No. 4/No. 5 match will begin at 8:00 a.m. inside.  Additional matches will begin one half hour after the completion of the previous match.  The women's No. 3/No. 6 match will follow the No. 4/No. 5 match, followed by men's No. 4/No. 5 and men's No. 3/No. 6.  On Saturday in foul weather, the women's top half semifinal (winner No. 4/No. 5 match vs. No. 1) will begin at 8:00 a.m. inside.  Additional matches will begin one half hour after the completion of the previous match.  The women's bottom half semifinal (winner No. 3/No. 6 match vs. No. 2) will go on second, followed by the men's top half semifinal and then the bottom half semifinal.  On Sunday in foul weather, the women's championship match will start at 9:00 a.m.  The men's match will begin at 1:00 p.m. or one half hour after completion of the women's final, whichever is later.

Selection
 Teams will be selected and seeded based on the following criteria (not in priority order):

  • NESCAC win-loss record
  • NESCAC head-to-head with tied team(s)
  • Wins/losses against other common NESCAC opponents
  • Wins/losses against other common non-conference opponents

Note: Only wins/losses may be used as a factor. Match score may not be used as a factor in determining seeding.

Ties will be broken as follows:

  • Head-to-head results
  • In the event of a tie between more than two teams or a head-to-head result is not available, the following procedure will be used (in priority order):
  1. NESCAC head-to-head results with tied teams
  2. Win-loss record against other common NESCAC opponents
  3. Win-loss record against other common in-region opponents
  4. Win-loss record against other common out-of-region opponents
  5. Latest ITA National ranking (in the event teams are not nationally ranked, regional rankings will be used)

Tournament Committee
There will be separate men's and women's tournament committees consisting of four coaches each.  Committee membership will rotate annually based on an alphabetical rotation. 

Announcement
The tournament committee will notify schools (and the Conference office) of the participating teams and seeding for the tournament.  Participating teams and seeding will be posted on the NESCAC web site after the committee has determined the final seeding and the appeal period has concluded.

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