From University of Chicago Athletics

The University of Chicago men's tennis team rode strong singles play to a historic 5-2 victory over Gustavus Adolphus College in the third round of the NCAA Division III Championship on Sunday.

The No. 8-ranked Maroons (18-5) advance to the NCAA quarterfinal round for the first time in program history. They will next face defending national champion Amherst College on Monday, May 18. The No. 18-ranked Gusties wrapped up their year at 20-11.

The two teams came in with some recent history – UChicago previously edged Gustavus Adolphus 5-4 on April 19. Doubles repeated that previous result with the Gusties winning both of the top doubles spots, 8-6 at No. 1 and 9-7 at No. 2. With a possible 3-0 deficit looming, the No. 3 tandem of freshmen Nicolas Chua and David Liu roared back from down 3-6 to win 8-6.

Momentum was all on UChicago's side in singles play. The top-seeded Maroons won the first set in all six matches. After losing to Gustavus in three sets back in their April matchup, Chua and sophomore Sven Kranz flipped the script and won in straight sets at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Freshmen Peter Leung and Luke Tsai also contributed victories at No. 4 and No. 5 to clinch the match.

"We had quite a weekend and I'm just so unbelievably proud of the entire team," said Head Coach Jay Tee. "We've really been coming together as a team and playing well, and today was a culmination of that. After Nick and Dave picked up another clutch doubles win, I could just see it in their eyes that they were ready to finish the job. Those earlier losses taught us so much about closing out sets and matches and you saw that today. We are looking forward to getting another opportunity to play again next week and see if we can find a little more Maroon magic to pull an upset or two."

UChicago 5, Gustavus Adolphus 2
Singles
1. Nicolas Chua (UC) def. Mohanad Al-Houni (GAC) 6-3, 6-4
2. Sven Kranz (UC) def. Motasem Al-Houni (GAC) 6-0, 6-4
3. Deepak Sabada (UC) vs. Andres Saenz (GAC) 6-4, 4-5, unfinished
4. Peter Leung (UC) def. Brad Entwistle (GAC) 6-3, 6-4
5. Luke Tsai (UC) def. Mitch Elofson (GAC) 6-3, 6-0
6. David Liu (UC) def. Zach Ekstein (GAC) 6-2, 3-6, 1-1, unfinished
Doubles
1. Motasem Al-Houni/Andres Saenz (GAC) def. Deepak Sabada/Ankur Bhargava (UC) 8-6
2. Brad Entwistle/Mohanad Al-Houni (GAC) def. Luke Tsai/Max Hawkins (UC) 9-7
3. Nicolas Chua/David Liu (UC) def. Mitch Elofson/T. Connor Shives (GAC) 8-6