Waterville, Maine - After a regular season defined by a gauntlet of top-ranked Division III opponents, the Colby Men's Tennis team is heading back to the conference postseason for the fifth consecutive year. The Mules have secured the No. 7 seed for the 2026 NESCAC Men's Tennis Championship and will travel to Middletown, Connecticut, for a quarterfinal showdown against the No. 2 seeded Bowdoin Polar Bears on Friday, May 1.

Colby (6-10, 4-6 NESCAC) enters the tournament battle-tested. The Mules spent the final weeks of April facing four top-25 teams in a ten-day span, a stretch that forced the lineup to find its grit ahead of the single-elimination format of the conference tournament. 

The most pivotal of those four ranked matchups came on April 16 against these same Polar Bears. While Bowdoin (currently ranked No. 11 in Division III) took that meeting 7-0, the scoreline didn't reflect the narrow margins at several flights. Specifically, Colby's No. 3 doubles pushed to a 7-5 finish, and Antonio Lee forced a three-set marathon at No. 5 singles that ended in a 10-8 tiebreaker. Facing the Polar Bears for the second time in two weeks allows the Mules to enter the quarterfinals with a clear blueprint for an upset. These two teams have yet to meet in postseason action. 

A victory on Friday would propel the Mules into the NESCAC Semifinals on Saturday, May 2, where they would face the winner of the quarterfinal between No. 3 Middlebury and No. 6 Wesleyan. Colby is seeking to advance out of the first round for the first time since the championship moved to a seeded format in 2006. 

Friday's quarterfinal matchup is schedule for a 1:00pm start at tournament hosts Wesleyan. Fans can follow the action using the live results and live video links as well check out the NESCAC Championship Central page for more information.