PORTLAND, Maine - The Bowdoin College men's tennis team came up just short in its chase for the NESCAC Championship on Sunday, falling 5-1 to Middlebury in the conference title match at Portland Racquet & Fitness Center.

The Panthers (16-2) automatically qualify to play in the NCAA Division III Championship tournament with the victory. Bowdoin (15-3) will undoubtedly receive an at-large bid when selections are announced on Monday.

Match Highlights

• Middlebury swept doubles play to take a 3-0 lead. Palmer Campbell and Hamid Derbani defeated Luke Trinka and Luke Tercek 8-5 at first doubles, Ari Smolyar and Noah Farrell topped Kyle Wolfe and Jerry Jiang 8-3 at second doubles 
• William de Quant and Kyle Schlanger teamed up for an 8-5 victory over Gil Roddy and Chase Savage at third doubles to give the Panthers a commanding 3-0 advantage heading into singles play
• Facing an uphill battle, Bowdoin saw Farrell closed out Tercek 6-3, 6-2 at first singles to make it a 4-0 deficit
• Bowdoin took a point soon after with Grant Urken's 6-3, 7-5 victory over Schlanger at sixth singles
• Shortly after that, however, Derbani clinched the conference crown with a 7-5, 6-4 decision over Roddy at fifth singles, leaving second, third and fourth singles unfinished.
• Bowdoin was leading by a set in two of the three remaining matches and was about to take the second set in the third when the clinching point was scored.

Up Next

• The NCAA Tournament field will be announced at noon on Monday. Complete information will be on the NCAA and Bowdoin website at that time