Santa Cruz Defeats Amherst to Win NCAA Team Championship

UC Santa Cruz won its seventh NCAA Division III team championship on Thursday, with a convincing 5-0 victory against 6th ranked Amherst. Once again, the Slugs established control of the dual by sweeping the doubles, meaning that for the team tournament Santa Cruz did not lose a doubles pro-set in any match.

With Santa Cruz up 3-0 after doubles, they took command of the singles at nearly every position, with seniors Colin Mark-Griffin and Max Liberty-Point clinching the victory at #5 and #1 singles respectively.

The 3rd place match between featured a match-up of the top two teams in the country by ranking: #1 Wash U in St. Louis and #2 Emory. It was the third time this season the two teams faced each other ranked #1 and #2. Emory won the first match in February at the ITA National Team Indoors, while Wash U took the re-match at the UAA conference tournament. In Thursday’s match, Wash U got out to a 2-1 lead after doubles. However, for the second time in two days, #2 Emory got a strong push in singles, taking four of five to earn a 5-3 win and third place in the NCAA team championships.

Match Results

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