Variety is the word that best describes the 2008 NCAA Division III Championships as the team and individual titles were spread out among six different schools.

The men's event was held at the Wallach Tennis Center in Lewiston, Maine.  The team competition came down to two tough ones as Washington-St. Louis' Chris Hoeland's
11th straight victory brought him over Emory's Hardy Ehler to bring his team to the 4-3 lead, just before Danny Levy clinched the match with a 4-6,6-4,7-5  victory over David Caplan.  It is a first ever championship for the Washington University in St. Louis Bears.

In the individual events, Kenyon sophomore Michael Greenberg defeated Middlebury College senior Filip Marinkovic, 3-6,6-4,6-4, for his school's first singles title.  The doubles went to the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps pair of Larry Wang and Guillaume Schills, who took the final match over Charlie Paukert and Andy Bryan of Gustavus Adolphus College, 6-3,6-4.

First year coach Alison Swain certainly had a terrific start.  The third-ranked Williams Ephs claimed the 2008 NCAA Division III Team Championship at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota.  It was a close one as defending champion Washington and Lee pushed the match to a 5-4 finish, won by Nikki Reich, 6-2,5-7,6-1.  It is Williams first win since 2001 and the first
time Washington and Lee has lost a match since March 31, 2007 -- when they also lost to Williams.

The Williams women were not quite as lucky in the individuals.  Siobhan Finicane of Pomona-Pitzer beat the Elphs Cary Gibson, 6-3,5-7,6-2.  She is the first player from that team to win the title in 14 years.  In the doubles, 2007 champions Brittany Berckes and Alicia Menezes of Amherst defended their title with a 6-4,6-3 victory over Kristin Cobb and Marta Drane of Denison.

Full results from the 2008 NCAA Division III Championships can be found at:

Bates College Men's Official Site

Gustavus Adolphus Women's Official Site 

Photos of Washington-St. Louis men courtesy of Washington-St. Louis Sports Information

Photos of Alicia Menezes &Brittany Berckes courtesy of Sports Pics

Marcia Frost can be reached at Marcia@CollegeAndJuniorTennis.com