The Lancaster Bible College Men's Tennis team advanced to the United East Conference Championship on Friday after a huge 5-3 upset win over Penn St. Harrisburg. Following the win, the Chargers improve to 14-4 overall, while the Lions end the season 9-5 overall.
How It Happened: The Chargers started the night with a 2-1 advantage after the doubles matches finished.
Josh Jarvis and
Devon Clemmer lost a tough bout, but the duos of
AJ Kwiatkowski/
Micah Weaver and
Malachi Bomgardner/
Caleb Cavaiani pulled out clutch 8-6 and 8-0 wins.
Things would get interesting on the singles side of the match. Clemmer got a solid 6-4, 6-0 win in the first slot to bring the Charger lead to 3-1, but sensing the deficit growing, the Lions clawed back, winning the number two and number three singles to tie the match at 3-3.
With just three singles matches left and only one team to advance, Bomgardner scored a pivotal win at the #4 singles beating first team all-conference Derwin Merca 6-4,6-3 and pulling the Chargers just one singles win away with two to play. With the PSU Harrisburg crowd cheering for a comeback victory, Kwiatkowski, after scoring a first set win 6-4 he found himself down 2-3 in the second. Meanwhile, Moore had run through the first set 6-1 and found himself down in the second 3-4. Kwiatkowski would rally and close out the match with a dominant run claiming the second set 6-3 and securing a spot in the United East Championship Saturday morning with a 5-3 team win. It was only fitting the all time career singles wins leader would be the one that clinched the match. Moore's match would be suspended at 6-1, 5-5!
Information to Know: The upset win over the Lions comes just a week after losing to the Lions in their final regular season match of the season, 6-3. It is there third appearance in the conference championship over the past four full seasons and first since making their historic trip to the NCAA tourney in 2021. They will meet a regionally ranked St. Mary's College of Maryland team in the finals.
Up Next: The Chargers will compete for the United East crown tomorrow, April 29 at 11:00 a.m. versus the #1 St. Mary's (Md.) Seahawks.
