If It Ain't Baruch, Don't Fix It: Goucher Men's Tennis Gets Past Bearcats 5-1 To Setup Match With Defending National Champs

MIDDLEBURY, Vermont – Omosesan Adebamgbe (Philadelphia, Pa./Lower Merion) won at No. 4 singles to clinch the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships first round victory with a 5-1 win against Baruch College on Thursday. 

With the win, the Gophers move onto an NCAA Division III second round matchup with defending national champion and regional host Middlebury College on Friday at 11 a.m.

Adebamgbe won 6-0, 6-4 to earn the fifth team win on the afternoon to seal the victory against the Bearcats.

Goucher took a 2-1 lead after doubles thanks in part to Adebamgbe and Slade Dumas (Great Falls, Va./Dominion) starting the wins for the Gophers with an 8-0 win at No. 3 doubles. 

Frankie Mullinix (Washington, D.C./The George School) and Elliot Diehl (York, Pa./York Suburban) won 8-1 at No. 2 doubles for a 2-0 lead.

Tetsuya Ota (Wesley Chapel, Fla./Saddlebrook Prep) and Michael Herman (Prague, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Nova Porg) lost 8-6 at No. 1 doubles. The duo went down 6-3 and then won the next three games, but Baruch served out the match to earn its lone point of the competition.

Just like the Landmark Conference Championship match, the Gophers held a 2-1 edge after doubles and then took control in singles play. Four of the six individuals won the first set in singles play.

Brian Kane (Philadelphia, Pa./Friends Select) was the first player to finish at No. 6 singles 6-0, 6-1 to give Goucher a 3-1 edge.

Dumas, the Landmark Conference Championship Most Valuable Player, took his No. 5 singles 6-0, 6-0 to push the Gophers on the brink of moving onto the second round.

Adebamgbe then won his No. 4 singles match to send the team into the second round for the third time in program history and for the second-straight campaign.

Ota was leading his No. 1 singles match 6-2, 3-4 while Herman was trailing 6-5 in the first set at No. 2 singles and Mullinix was down 4-6, 2-1 before Adebamgbe halted the rest of matches with his win.

Goucher is making their fourth-straight appearance on the national stage and for the fifth time in program history. It will be a tall order  for a Gophers team that have advanced to the second round three times in team history while Middlebury has three national championships and has never not advanced to the NCAA Championship Quarterfinals.