Men's Tennis 5/29/2024 12:46:00 PM

Theron and Wicklund finish as National Runner-Up in NCAA Doubles Championships

SEWANEE, Tenn. – Jordan Theron and Quinn Wicklund won the first set in the finals of the NCAA Division III Men's Doubles Championships but dropped the next two to fall on Tuesday to Tyler Haddorff and Gage Gohl of Gustavus Adolphus at the Dwight Davis Tennis Centre.

Theron and Wicklund defeated the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) doubles team earlier in the day, taking a 6-2, 6-4 win over Aiden Drover-Mattinen and Andy Zhu in the semifinals, before facing the Gustavus Adolphus team for the national championship.

Theron and Wicklund started the match strong as they broke the Gustavus Adolphus team at 15-40 to start up an early break. The Tigers held their serve at love for a 2-0 lead and lost just one point in the first two games. The Gusties held their serve, but the Tigers won the next three games for a 5-1 lead.

Gustavus Adolphus held off two set points on their serve to force Theron to serve for the set. Sewanee had two more set points before taking the deuce point for a 6-2 first set.

In the second set, the Gusties got out to a quick start; they encountered an early break for a 3-0 lead. Sewanee finally held for their first game of the set, but Gustavus took the next three for a 6-1 second set to force a deciding set.

In the third set, both teams held easily for a three all third set, the Tigers dropped just two points in their first three service games. However, with two double faults, Gustavus Adolphus picked up the only break in the final set for a 4-3 lead, before easily holding their serve to go up 5-3. Theron held his serve with no problem as the Tigers did not drop a point to force the Gusties to try and close the match out.

Theron started the returning game with a huge backhand return up the line, but Gohl responded with a huge service ace up for 15 all. Haddorff at the net, took advantage of the next return, poaching to take the next point. Wicklund had a huge return up the line on the next point for 30-all. However, the Gusties took the next two points to win the National Championship in the final set 6-4.

In the first match of the day, Sewanee won the first four games of the match. They kept their momentum, holding their serve and winning the first set 6-2.

In the second set, RPI and the Tigers exchanged breaks the first five games of the set before the Tigers held their service game at 40-15 for a 4-2 lead. Sewanee served for the match at 5-4 and did not drop a point to defeat RPI in the semifinals.

Theron and Wicklund ended a stellar season as they won the Fall ITA National Championship and are runners-up in the NCAA National Championship.

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Players Mentioned

Jordan Theron: 6' 4"; Senior

Quinn Wicklund: 6' 3"; Junior

Players Mentioned

Jordan Theron
: 6' 4"; Senior

Quinn Wicklund
: 6' 3"; Junior