Ephs head to Middlebury for NESCAC Championship Tournament

Despite being ranked fourth nationally and having defeated eight nationally-ranked teams this spring, Dave Donn's Williams men's tennis team (14-2, 6-1 NESCAC) has been seeded third in this weekend's NESCAC Championship Tournament being hosted by second-seeded Middlebury College (14-4, 6-1 NESCAC).

Trinity College (12-1, 7-1 NESCAC) was awarded the top seed.

The three-day championship begins on Friday, April 25 with the first match featuring fourth-seed Bowdoin (11-8, 6-3 NESCAC) taking on fifth-seed Bates (12-3, 3-3 NESCAC) at 1:30 p.m., followed at 4:00 p.m. with third-seed Williams facing archrival and sixth-seed Amherst (9-8, 3-4 NESCAC).

Friday’s winners will advance to Saturday’s semifinals. The Williams-Amherst winner will face Middlebury and the Bowdoin-Bates winner will play Trinity.

The 2008 NESCAC Men’s Tennis Championship will conclude on Sunday, April 27, with the championship match at 1:00 p.m.

"We're very excited about the tournament this weekend as we've been building towards it all year," said Donn.

Both Williams and Amherst have reached the semifinals in each of the previous two NESCAC tournaments, with the Ephs making it to the championship match both times, however Amherst and Williams have never faced each other in championship history.

The Ephs won the annual regular season meeting 6-3 on April 5 in Williamstown to extend their winning streak over the Lord Jeffs that began in the spring of 1995.

Williams has won a remarkable 14 NESCAC titles - the most by any conference team - including 11 in a row from 1993 to the Ephs’ most recent crown in 2003.

Senior Dan Greenberg (Chapel Hill, N.C.) hopes to guide his team to its first championship since the inception of the tournament format in 2006, as the 2005 NESCAC Rookie of the Year and a two-time All-NESCAC First Team honoree is 20-5 in singles play this season and finished third in the ITA National Championships.

Amherst will look to rebound this Friday from a rough finish to the regular season, having gone 3-4 since falling to Williams.

2008 NESCAC MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round - Friday, April 25 at Middlebury
No. 5 Bates vs. No. 4 Bowdoin - 1:30 p.m.
No. 6 Amherst vs. No. 3 Williams - 4:00 p.m.

Semifinals - Saturday, April 26 at Middlebury
Winner No. 5/No. 4 vs. No. 1 Trinity - 1:30 p.m.
Winner No. 6/No. 3 vs. No. 2 Middlebury - 4:00 p.m.

Championship - Sunday, April 27 at Middlebury
Semifinal Winners - 1:00 p.m.