The Lancaster Bible College men's tennis team is headed to the NCAA Division III Championships for the first time in program history, as the Chargers defeated Northern Vermont – Lyndon, 9-0 in the North Eastern Athletic Conference – North Atlantic Conference Crossover Match. The Chargers and Hornets had each won their conference tournament, but because neither conference has enough teams for an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships, the conferences share the bid, and the winners play in a crossover match to determine the team that will represent the conferences at the NCAA Division III Championships.
 
The victory sends the Chargers to 11-1 overall this season, while the Hornets ended their year at 4-3 overall.
 
Doubles: Lancaster Bible raced to a 3-0 lead, as the home team swept all three doubles matches. The No. 1 team of Devon Clemmer and Tyler Norris earned an 8-3 victory over Patrick Wickstrom and Neal Mulligan, while Malachi Bomgardner and AJ Kwiatkowski picked up an 8-3 victory at No. 2 doubles. Keven Vallette and Micah Weaver stayed perfect this season as doubles partners, as they improved to 8-0 this year with an 8-2 victory over Ken Niemann and Garrick Webster at No. 3 doubles.
 
Singles: The Chargers found similar success in singles play as well on Saturday evening, as Weaver made it 4-0 with a 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 3 singles over Niemann, and Bomgardner and Vallette won soon after that to clinch the match, as Bomgardner won, 6-3, 6-2 over Zach Falkenburg at No. 4 singles, and Vallette cruised 6-0, 6-0 over Quinlan Peer at No. 5 singles.
 
Clemmer earned a 6-4, 6-2 victory at No. 1 singles, as he turned a 2-1 deficit in the second set into a 6-2 victory by winning the final five points of the match. Norris and Mulligan went back-and-forth in a well-played match at No. 2 singles, as Norris came away with a 6-4, 6-1 victory. Kwiatkowski continued his unbeaten season with a 6-3, 6-4 victory at No. 6 singles.
 
News & Notes: This was the first-ever meeting between the two teams…Lancaster Bible played in the 2019 NEAC-NAC Crossover Match and lost to Thomas (Maine), 7-2…Lancaster Bible has won nine straight matches…The Chargers are 6-1 at home this season…The match was played indoors at Hempfield Rec Center due to rain in the area throughout the day on Saturday, as well as temperatures in the low 50s…Kwiatkowski is 12-0 in singles play this season…Vallette is 11-1 in singles action…Lancaster Bible is 51-17 in singles play this season as a team, and boasts a 28-7 mark in doubles play...With the men's tennis victory, Tyler Norris will become the first male student-athlete to participate in the NCAA Division III Championships in two sports, as he was a part of the 2017-18 men's basketball team that advanced to the NCAA Division III National Tournament...Only one other student-athlete in Lancaster bible history has appeared in two sports, as Sarah Heilenman was part of the 2012 women's soccer team that went to the tournament, and was then on the 2012-13 women's basketball team that advanced to the NCAA Division III National Tournament...The men's tennis team is the second Lancaster Bible team to play in the NCAA Division III Championships this season, as the men's volleyball team also took part in the NCAA Division III National Tournament in April.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible will find out its NCAA Division III Championship First Round opponent on Saturday, as the NCAA will release the tournament field on its website…In addition to finding out its opponent, the Chargers will also find out where and when they will play.