CAMBRIDGE, MA- Brown University continued its dominant 2019-20 Tennis On Campus (TOC) campaign by winning the 2019 New England Championships at Harvard University’s Beren Tennis Center from October 18-20. Just three weeks following Brown’s near-perfect performance in Delaware to clinch the Battle of the Sections title, the Bears defeated New England’s 31 best club tennis teams to capture the school’s third New England Championship and first since 2012.

They will be heading to Nationals in Orlando in April.

“We have invested a lot into Brown Club Tennis the last few years. Our club has gotten so much better and it is awesome to be a part of. Winning the New England Championship was a great way to see how far we have come,” Captain Matt Miller said.

Brown came in third place last year, qualifying them for Nationals but fell short of qualifying in 2017.

This year, the Bears opened the tournament by defeating the University of Vermont and Bowdoin College in flight play to advance to the Gold Bracket.  

They went on to beat Northeastern University in the quarterfinals (24-18) and escaped past Harvard University, 25-22, in the semis. The wins set up a final against Yale University, which picked up Gold Bracket victories against Boston University and defending champions, Dartmouth College.

“I think everyone, especially me, was pretty tense during the final. But mostly we were just happy to be there in the first place. It was a huge honor,” Miller said. “The match came down to the mixed doubles, and luckily my partner Juliana is an absolute rock star. She has two backhands and just obliterates the ball. It is awesome.”

Leading 19-17 heading into the fifth position, mixed doubles, the Brown needed a clutch performance from Miller and Juliana __, which they got. The duo held off Yale’s Khat Tuchscherer and Brandon Alexander, 6-2, to hold on for the 25-19 win.

“I’m so proud of this team. Our camaraderie I think is a huge factor in how well we did this year. We added a few insanely talented new players, and we all worked very well together as a team,” Miller said. “I would also like to credit our women's team, as I truly believe we have one of, if not the best women’s club tennis teams in the country.”

Brown will be joined at Nationals by finalists Yale, and third, fourth and fifth-place finishers respectively, Harvard, Dartmouth College and MIT. The sixth New England bid to Nationals will be given by way of the 2019 Club of the Year, which will be announced in the coming months.

The University of Connecticut defeated Middlebury College, Wesleyan University and the University of Rhode Island to win the Silver Bracket. In flight play, UConn took out Central Connecticut State

University and the University of Maine. UConn’s Adrian Cruz earned Captain of the Tournament honors.

Fairfield University took home the Bronze Championship by defeating Providence College, Quinnipiac University and WPI.

In the Copper Bracket final, the University of New Hampshire defeated newcomers, Amherst College.

Quinnipiac and the University of New Haven joined Amherst as the three teams that made their debut at the New England Championships this year.

For the Amherst team, which originated three years ago as a group chat started by Captains Kelly Chian and Emily Ma and has since expanded to 70 players, this tournament was a major learning experience.

“The tournament was a big eye-opener into what club college tennis is like beyond our school. Seeing 30 other teams and hundreds of players, brought a new level of energy and appreciation for the sport. This tournament reshaped what we envision for our club moving forward,” Chian said.

“Unfortunately, we are both graduating this year, but we feel safe leaving the club in the hands of enthusiastic underclassmen. We’re looking forward to playing with the other schools we met at the tournament throughout the remainder of the school year,” Ma added.

Amherst was also the recipient of the Team Sportsmanship award.

“We have a great team of people who carry themselves with respect towards others. Our goal was to take full advantage of our first tournament without any expectations,” Chian said. “Being our first year at the tournament, we loved getting to meet other club teams and seeing how their programs are run. Emily got injured during the tournament, and after that, we recommitted ourselves to the team and being supportive of each other and the other teams.”

New England teams will compete at the Nationals Championships form April 1-4 at the USTA National Tennis Center in Orlando.

·       I've put the pics I took (and I labeled them) on the P drive under Community Tennis/2019/TOC.