ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Two games away from their second NCAA team title, University of Chicago men's tennis still had a big semifinal hurdle bar to clear in No. 7 Middlebury. Unlike Tuesday, the Maroons didn't need a big comeback to get back into the contest as they swept doubles play and took care of business in solo action to advance to the championship match.

RESULT
No. 7 Middlebury – 2
No. 2 UChicago – 5

HOW IT HAPPENED

• No. 2 University of Chicago (24-1) posted dual 8-5 victories out of the first and second doubles spots but the first part of the match wasn't a complete breeze as they had to fight No. 7 Middlebury (20-5) in the third and final pairing. The team of Wong and Asokumar came back from a slight deficit and earned the third point for the Maroons though with a 7-4 tiebreak in an 8-7 victory.
  • Andrei Leonov/Pat Otero defeat Ward/Epstein 8-5
  • Robert Zhang/Derek Hsieh defeat Harris/Laber 8-5
  • Jack Wong/Arjun Asokumar defeat Wijemanne/Hentschel 8-7 [7-4]
• Already up 3-0, UChicago gave two points back to the Panthers out of the first and fifth slots. However, the designated home team also took back the tallies they gave up and secured the overall 5-3 win with checkmarks from Hsieh at two and Otero at six.
  • No. 1 Singles: Emil Grantcharov falls to Laber 1-6, 1-6
  • No. 2 Singles: Derek Hsieh defeats Wu 6-4, 6-4
  • No. 5 Singles: Kane Kelley falls to Harris 2-6, 3-6
  • No. 6 Singles: Pat Otero defeats Lewis 6-2, 6-3

WHO'S ON DECK
The Maroons will battle for their second NCAA title in three years when they take on the winner of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps & Bowdoin on Friday at 12:00 pm.

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