Cambridge, Mass. – Trailing 3-2, No. 3 seed Clark University battled back to defeat No. 2 U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 5-4, in the second semifinal match of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Men's Tennis Championship Tournament on Saturday afternoon.
It was a reversal of fortune of sorts from Wednesday's regular season finale in which the Bears cruised to an 8-1 win over Clark.
With the win, the Cougars (16-3) advanced to their first conference title match where they will face top-seeded and host MIT on Sunday, April 29 at 1:00 p.m. The Bears, meanwhile, saw their season end with a ledger of 11-6.
In No. 1 doubles action, Coast Guard's senior tandem of Greg Mitchell (Keene, N.H.) and Nick Martin (State College, Pa.) battled junior Diego Angel (Lima, Peru) and sophomore Dan Stein (Newton, Mass.) for a 9-7 victory.
The Bears earned their second point when junior Blake Maurer (Fort Worth, Texas) and sophomore Josh Fischer (Roanoke, Texas) defeated freshmen Zack Goodstein (Columbus, Ohio) and Josh Burger (Fairfield, Conn.), 8-4, in the No. 2 spot.
Clark prevented the sweep when juniors Dan Hall (Sutton, Mass.) and Phillip Porter (Cortland Manor, N.Y.) fought off senior Matt Faha (Stafford, Va.) and freshman Andrew Bryson (Prattville, Ala.), 9-8 (4).
Early in singles play, Martin topped Goodstein, 6-0, 6-1, in the No. 3 position while Clark junior Dan Paradee (Gardiner, Maine) defeated Faha by the same score in the No. 5 spot.
Stein earned another point for the Cougars with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Fischer in the second slot as Maurer kept the Bears in front courtesy of a 7-5, 6-3 decision over Burger in the No. 4 position.
Angel evened the match at four-all by defeating Mitchell, 7-6 (5), 6-2, in a heated battle at the top spot right before freshman Joel Simonson (Waterford, Conn.) recorded a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over freshman Jon Lightner (Stuttgart, Germany) in the No. 6 slot to clinch the match for Clark.
The win for Clark is their first conference tournament win since 2006 and just their third all-time win in postseason play.
