Goucher Looks To #GopherIt At The NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships Starting Thursday

BALTIMORE, Md. – The Goucher College men's tennis team begins its fourth-consecutive NCAA Division III Tournament against Baruch College on the campus of Middlebury College on Thursday. Match time is 12 p.m. if they are outside on the Proctor Tennis Courts and 1 p.m. if it is raining and the match is moved indoors to the Nelson Recreation Center.

There is no charge for fans to attend matches at Middlebury and for fans unable to attend live stats and video will be provided by Middlebury athletics.

The winner of the match between Goucher and Baruch will move onto the second round and face the defending national champion and host Middlebury College on Friday at 11 a.m. on the Proctor Tennis Courts or 12 p.m. at the Nelson Recreation Center.

Stevenson University and Clarks Summit University will start the Middlebury bracket on Thursday and the winner of that match will face MIT on Friday. The two winners of the regional semifinals will advance to the region final on Saturday.

The Gophers advanced to their fourth-straight NCAA Division III Championships after defeating the University of Scranton 5-1 in the Landmark Conference Championship Match on Saturday. Goucher is one of three teams Maryland and is joined by Johns Hopkins University and Stevenson University, but the squad did not face either Old Line State teams this season.

Goucher is 2-1 against teams that advanced to the NCAA Division III Championships. The squad defeated Grinnell College and Stevens Institute of Technology by the identical score of 5-4 while on spring break in Florida while falling 8-1 to the College of New Jersey.

The Landmark Conference is 6-9 on the national stage on the courts for the men with Goucher posting a 2-4 mark in their previous four trips. Michael Herman (Prague, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Nova Porg) has two singles victories and a doubles win on the national stage while senior Elliot Diehl (York, Pa./York Suburban) has two doubles wins and a singles victory at the NCAA Championships in his career. Slade Dumas (Great Falls, Va./Dominion), Frankie Mullinix (Washington, D.C./The George School) and  Tetsuya Ota (Wesley Chapel, Fla./Saddlebrook Prep) each have won a match in doubles play in the national tournament.

Goucher advanced to its fourth-straight NCAA appearance after defeating the University of Scranton 5-1 in the Landmark Conference Men's Tennis Championship Game on Saturday. After closely-contested doubles matches where the Gophers came out ahead 2-1, Dumas won at No. 5 singles 6-0, 6-2 to give the Gophers a 3-1 lead and Brian Kane (Philadelphia, Pa./Friends Select) took his No. 6 singles match 6-1, 6-0 to push the Gophers within one point of its fourth-straight title. Mullinix won the clincher 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3 singles. Omosesan Adebamgbe (Philadelphia, Pa./Lower Merion) and Dumas, who was named the tournament Most Valuable Player, were the first tandem to finish at No. 3 doubles with an 8-0 victory and Ota and Herman gave the Gophers a 2-1 team lead going into singles play after an 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles. 

Ota and Herman are 10-9 on the year at No. 1 doubles. Mullinix and Diehl have played all three doubles positions and are 12-3 on the year while Adebamgbe and Dumas have records at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles and are 14-1 together.

Ota, the 2018 Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year and all-conference first-team selection, is 14-6 on the year. The two-time conference player of the week only lost eight games in seven matches in league play at No. 1 singles. Herman, who earned all-conference second-team recognition in 2018, is 8-6 on the year and 3-1 in the circuit at No. 2 singles. 

Mullinix has played No. 2, 3 and 4 singles this year and is 11-8 in singles play. Dumas, who was named the conference player of the week after his sensational spring break, has played every spot in the lineup except for No. 6 singles and is 16-7 on the year.

Kane is 15-6 on the year while playing at the bottom four spots of the lineup. Diehl is 9-1 on the year and 5-0 in league play at No. 5 and 6 singles. Adebamgbe has also played singles and is 5-8 on the year and 1-1 in the circuit in the middle of the lineup.

Goucher's first round opponent, Baruch, is making their third-straight NCAA Division III Championship appearance and ninth in the last 13 seasons. The Bearcats defeated the College of Staten Island in the CUNYAC Championship on Saturday to punch their ticket to the tournament. Baruch is 4-8 on the national stage and have advanced to the second round in 2007, 2012, 2014 and 2017.

Middlebury has won 38 national championships as a school including three for men's tennis. The team has made the NCAA Tournament for 15th-straight seasons and has never not advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals in that time. Middlebury defeated Amherst College 5-1 in the NESCAC Championship on Sunday to earn its 16th-consecutive NCAA berth.

Stevenson and Clarks Summit are both making their first trip to the NCAA Championships. Stevenson earned its bid by defeating Messiah College 5-1 in the MAC Commonwealth Championship match on Saturday while Clarks Summit downed Bryn Athyn College 5-3 in the CSAC conference final.

MIT won the NEWMAC title against Babson College 5-1 to earn its 21-consecutive title. The last time MIT was not in the NCAA Tournament was in 1995-96 and it is the fifth time since 2009-10 the Engineers have been placed in the Middlebury Regional. 

Full Schedule (All Matches Held at Middlebury College)
Thursday, May 9 
Match 1: Stevenson University vs. Clarks Summit University - 9:00 am
Match 2: Goucher College vs. Baruch College - 12:00 pm

Friday, May 10
Match 3: MIT vs. Winner of Match 1 - 8:30 am
Match 4: Middlebury College vs. Winner of Match 2 - 11:00 am

Saturday, May 11
Match 5: Regional Final - Winner of Match 3 vs. Winner of Match 4 - 10:00 am

For a complete bracket, click here