ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College advanced to the Commonwealth Conference men's tennis championship match with a 5-1 victory over defending champion Lebanon Valley College in semifinal action Wednesday afternoon.
The top-seeded Blue Jays (13-4 overall) won two of three doubles pro sets, then picked up victories in each of the first three completed singles matches to avenge a 5-4 loss to the Flying Dutchmen (9-7 overall) in last year's championship match.
Elizabethtown will host second-seeded Lycoming College Saturday at a time to be determined, after the Warriors downed third-seeded Messiah College 5-2 in Wednesday's other semifinal match. Saturday's winner will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III team tournament.
The Dutchmen took a 1-0 lead with a win at flight one of doubles, but the Blue Jays won the final two matches to take a 2-1 advantage. Josh Riehl and Eric Fritzges claimed an 8-2 win over Tom Neckelmann and Brad Sweigart at flight two, and Bryan Metz teamed with Michael Anderson for an 8-4 win over Andrew Deckert and Joel Ramos at flight three.
In singles, Walker defeated Deckert 6-1, 6-2 at flight three, Brian Osborn downed Ramos 6-1, 6-2 at flight six and Metz won 6-1, 6-4 at flight four over Jon Gingrich to clinch the match.