Playing in its sixth NCAA Men's Tennis National Final in program history, Middlebury fell by a 5-0 score against fourth-ranked Bowdoin at the Stowe Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The third-ranked Panthers finish their season at 20-3, while Bowdoin claims its first national title and concludes with a 20-3 record. The Panthers won NCAA titles both in 2004 and 2010.

Bowdoin jumped out to a 3-0 advantage after doubles play. At #2, the Bears grabbed the first point when Jerry Jiang and Kyle Wolfe lost the first two games but reeled off eight of the next nine for the 8-3 win over Ari Smolyar and Noah Farrell.

In the top spot, Middlebury's Palmer Campbell and Hamid Derbani were tied with Bowdoin's Luke Trinka and Luke Tercek at 3-3, but the Polar Bear duo responded winning five of six games and doubled Bowdoin's lead with an 8-4 win.

At #3, Middlebury's William de Quant and Kyle Schlanger broke and held serve for a 2-0 lead, but the Polar Bear team of Gil Roddy and Grant Urken battled back and were victorious in five of the ensuing six games for a 5-3 edge. The teams both held serve for the next two games, but the Polar Bears earned the sweep when they won the final two games for an 8-4 win.

In singles play, Bowdoin didn't let off the accelerator when it went ahead 4-0 via a 6-2, 6-3 in the #3 slot by Trinka over Campbell. Trinka broke Campbell early in each set on his way to the win.

Bowdoin clinched the match at #5 when Roddy defeated Derbani by scores of 6-4, 6-4. Trailing 5-2 in the second set, Roddy was serving for the match before Derbani ripped a cross-court backhand that found the corner, pulling the Panther to within two at 5-3. Derbani held serve to move to within a game (5-4), but Roddy scored four points on his serve for the 6-4 win.

In the other four matches that went unfinished, Farrell jumped up 5-0 at #1 and hung on for a 6-2 win in the opening set, while Tercek evened the match with a 6-2 second-set victory and was ahead 3-1 in the final set. Smolyar dropped the opening set at #2 in a tiebreaker by a 7-6 (7) and trailed 4-2 to Wolfe in the second.

At #4, de Quant led 5-2 before fighting off a comeback attempt by Jiang to take the first set 7-5. The Panther was serving for the match at 5-3, looking to put Middlebury on the scoreboard. In the sixth slot, Schlanger trailed 4-2 in the opening set and fought all the way back before falling in a tiebreaker (7-6 (4)) to Urken. Schlanger rebounded to take the second set, breaking Urken to even the match at 1-1. The players split the first two games before the match was decided.

Beginning Thursday morning, Farrell and Smolyar will compete as one of 32 Division III individuals vying for a national title, while Campbell and Derbani will participate as a duo looking for a title in a bracket comprised of 16 doubles teams.

Wednesday's match was the 43rd meeting between the two NESCAC programs and the third in the NCAA Tournament, including a 5-3 win for the Panthers during the 2015 regional final and a 5-2 victory for Middlebury in 2011. This was the third match this season between Middlebury and Bowdoin in 2016, with the Panthers winning 5-4 during the regular season and 5-1 in the NESCAC Championship match.