WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Bowdoin College men's tennis team took a 3-0 advantage in doubles play and claimed a pair of singles wins to take a 5-3 victory over Trinity in the opening round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday at Williams College. The Polar Bears (11-5), the reigning NESCAC Champions, will play top-seeded Middlebury in a rematch of last year's final on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. in the semifinals.

The fourth-seeded Polar Bears, who dropped two of three doubles matches to the fifth-seeded Bantams in the regular season meeting, jumped ahead with three crucial doubles victories on Friday. At one doubles Oscar Pena and Jamie Neely (B) downed the Bantams' top duo of Anson McCook and David Yahng 8-6. Bowdoin's Stephen Sullivan and Alex Caughron downed Trinity's Spencer Feldman and Nicholas White 8-5. Third doubles was decided in a tie-breaker as the Polar Bear team of Alex White and Tyler Anderson overcame the Bantam duo of Gautam Samarth and Charles McConnell 9-8 (7-5).

Trinity rallied in singles action, capturing the top three matches before Bowdoin was able to seal the win with victories at five and six. Jamie Neely won 6-2, 6-4 at number six before senior captain Alex White clinched the victory with a 6-2, 6-3 win at number five.

Bowdoin faced Middlebury at home on April 11 with the Panthers earning a 6-3 win. The Polar Bears bounced Middlebury, 5-4, last spring to win their first-ever NESCAC crown and snap the Panthers' run of four-consecutive conference titles.

Bowdoin 5, Trinity 3
Doubles:
1) BOW - Pena/Neely d. Yahng/McCook, 8-4
2) BOW - Sullivan/Caughron d. White/Feldman, 8-3
3) BOW - White/Anderson d. McConnell/Samarth, 9-8 (5)

Singles:
1) TRI - Spencer Feldman d. Stephen Sullivan, 6-3, 6-4
2) TRI - Gaitan Samarth d. Oscar Pena, 7-5, 6-4
3) TRI - Anson McCook d. Tyler Anderson, 6-3, 7-6
4) DNF - Alex Caughron vs. David Yahng
5) BOW - Alex White d. Nick White, 6-2, 6-3
6) BOW - Jamie Neely d. Adam Lanza, 6-2, 6-4