The Carleton College men’s tennis team is headed to the NCAA Championships for the third time in school history after winning the MIAC Playoffs for the first time with a 6-3 victory over the conference tournament’s top seed and national No. 28 Gustavus Adophus. The triumph secured the MIAC automatic bid to the 42-team national tournament, where the Knights will be making their first appearance since 2004. Prior to today, the Gusties had won every MIAC regular season and post-season title since 1988.

Carleton advanced to face Gustavus after posting a 6-3 victory over Bethel University in this morning’s semifinals.

Despite the fact that Gustavus and Carleton have been the top two programs in the conference over the last several years—with the teams ranked No. 6 and No. 7 respectively in the central region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) this year—today’s result snapped a long, long drought against the Gusties. Carleton had lost at least 19 consecutive matches versus Gustavus dating back to 1997, a stretch that includes the Knights’ five previous visits to the MIAC Finals.

With a 19-3 record, the Knights have accumulated the second-most wins in school history, just one victory shy of the school-record 20-4 mark established during the 2004 campaign. That was the last time Carleton played in the national tournament, and the Knights lost 5-2 to Coe College (Iowa), who was ranked No. 13 in the nation at the time. Carleton’s other trip to the NCAA tourney came back in 1985.

Versus Gustavus, the Knights jumped out to an early lead after taking two of the three doubles matches. Austin Jiang (Fy./Green Bay, Wis./Bay Port) and Colin Russell (Sr./The Woodlands, Texas/Oak Ridge) have now won all eight matches they’ve played together, posting an 8-2 victory at third doubles. Winston Park (Sr./Encino, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) and Dan Vollman (So./Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) upset Gustavus’ regionally ranked tandem of Amrik Donkena and Tyler Johnson by an 8-4 margin.

Carleton nearly secured a sweep as Paul Cooper (Fy./Burr Ridge, Ill./Hinsdale Central) and Peter Dunn (So./Winnetka, Ill./North Shore Country Day) battled the Gustie counterparts at second doubles to the end, eventually falling 9-8 (7-4).

As the match moved to singles play, it would be a trio of rookies that would secure the decision. Jiang pushed the Carleton lead to 3-1 as he posted a 6-2, 6-2 triumph at third singles. With a pair of victories in each match today, he improved to a perfect 22-0 in singles and 17-0 in doubles during the 2010 season.

Cooper was next to get another point in the Carleton column and inched the Knights closer to the victory after posting a 7-5, 6-4 win at sixth singles, giving him a 13-0 singles ledger in 2010.

Alexander Chin (Fy./Hingham, Mass./Hingham) was officially credited with securing the necessary fifth team point to clinch the match for Carleton. He prevailed 7-5, 6-3 at fifth singles, his eighth straight victory.

Before wrapping up play, Carleton would tack on an additional point via Russell’s 7-5, 7-5 triumph at fourth singles. With the outcome no longer in doubt, the final two matches were played to completion, with Gustavus taking third sets to win both.

Against Bethel, the Knights won two of the three doubles matches and extended their lead with quick victories once again by rookies Chin and Cooper at fifth and sixth singles respectively. Jiang and Russell later added straight-set victories at second and fourth singles to seal the match.