New Haven, CT — The first day of the Men’s National Team Championships saw a number of upsets in the lower divisions.
A Division (Potter Cup): A year ago, Cornell stunned Yale in the first round, upsetting the Bulldogs 6-3. A few weeks ago, the Big Red pulled off another major upset by taking down then top-ranked Princeton, 5-4. Playing at home, Yale had no intention of being surprised by Cornell today. The Bulldogs marched past the Big Red into the semifinals with a 7-2 win. Harvard ended up having the most difficult route to the semifinals, thanks to a game Rochester squad. The Yellowjackets led 2-1 after the first flight of matches, and the score was tied 3-all going into the final flight. Harvard swept the last three matches on court to secure the 6-3 win and a spot in the semifinals. Harvard will play Princeton tomorrow, and Trinity will play Yale. In the consolations, St. Lawrence will play Cornell, and Rochester will face Franklin & Marshall.
B Division (Hoehn Cup): The second round of B Division quarterfinals saw two closely contested matched: Columbia-Navy and Williams-Bates. In the Columbia versus Navy match, only two individual matches in the top nine were decided in three games. Four matches went to four, and three went to five games, with Columbia coming out on top of each fifth game. The final score was 6-3 to Columbia. At last weekend’s Women’s National Team Championships, Bates upset Williams in the first round. The Ephs’ men would have none of that today, sending Bates to the consolation bracket. This was the third meeting of the season between the two teams, and Williams swept the series. The score today was the same as the score during their last match: Williams 6, Bates 3. Williams will play Columbia in the semifinals tomorrow, and the other B Division main draw contest will be between Dartmouth and Western Ontario.
C Division (Summers Cup): Summers Cup action took place at Wesleyan University today. The host Cardinals had one of the day’s most dramatic matches, outlasting an up-and-coming Drexel squad, 5-4. Tomorrow Wesleyan will play George Washington in the C Division semifinals. The Colonials had an eventful first-round trip of their own: they traded matches down the line-up with Hamilton. George Washington won the odd-numbered matches, and Hamilton won the even-numbered ones. With nine matches scoring, the odds were in the Colonials’ favor. They won 5-4 over the Continentals. The other half of the bracket was only slightly less dramatic. Bowdoin upset Amherst with a 6-3 win, and top-seeded Middlebury advanced with a 7-2 victory over Connecticut College. Middlebury and Bowdoin have played twice already this season, and the Panthers have won both times. The Polar Bears will get another crack at upsetting Middlebury tomorrow in the semifinals.
D Division (Conroy Cup): Three of the four Conroy Cup quarterfinals were decided by a score of 6-3: Colby’s win over Tufts, Bucknell’s win over Johns Hopkins, and Stanford’s win over Hobart. In those three matches, the higher-seeded teams all advanced. The anomalous match was Haverford-Georgetown. Coming into the tournament, Haverford was ranked 28th overall and fourth in the division, and Georgetown was ranked 29th overall and fifth in the division. The Hoyas swept the Fords 9-0 for the upset victory. The match-ups for the semifinals will be Colby versus Georgetown and Stanford versus Bucknell. In the consolation bracket, Haverford will face Tufts, and Hobart will square off against Hopkins.
E Division: (Chaffee Cup): Things might finally be going Denison’s way again. The Big Red opened up the weekend with a 5-4 win over MIT. Denison was ranked seventh in the division coming into the tournament, so taking out second-seeded MIT in a hard-fought match marked an auspicious start to the tournament for the Big Red. Earlier in the day, Virginia handily defeated Colgate 8-1. The other two match-ups in the division had a similar sound to them: Boston College versus Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Washington versus Boston University. By the end of the evening, it was Bostons 2, Washington’s 0. Top-seeded BC bounced Wash U, 6-3, while BU held off UDub, 5-4. The pairings for the semifinals will be Boston College versus Virginia and Denison versus the Boston University.
F Division (Serues Cup): NYU and Northeastern are slated to face each other tomorrow in the Serues Cup semifinals. NYU was the first F Division team to advance; they defeated USC 8-1 in the opening round. The Huskies punched their ticket to the semis with a 7-1 win over Fordham. In the other half of the bracket, Northwestern pulled the rug out from under second-seeded Bryant. The Wildcats, ranked seventh in the division, upended the Bulldogs 6-3. Northwestern will face either Lehigh in the semifinals. The Mountain Hawks moved forward with a 6-3 win over Swarthmore.
G Division (Hawthorn Cup): Nine teams are competing in the Hawthorn Cup this year, and the uneven number necessitated a play-in match between Siena and Illinois Springfield. Siena earned a spot in the main draw with a 7-2 win. They couldn’t celebrate for long, though: they had to take on Charleston this evening for their second match of the day. Siena ended up going 1-1 on the day, falling 7-2 to the Cougars. In other Hawthorn Cup action, Ithaca upset Vassar, 7-2, to advance to the semifinals, where they will face Charleston. Bard advanced to the other semifinal on the back of a 5-4 win over Notre Dame. Bard will play either Minnesota or Cal, whose first-round match was scheduled for Saturday morning. Illinois Springfield, Vassar, Siena, and Notre Dame all enter a consolation round robin.
