CLAREMONT, Calif. – Bates College pair Ben Stein and Amrit Rupasinghe defeated arch rival Bowdoin College’s duo Jamie Neely and Oscar Pena 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to captue the NCAA Division III men’s tennis doubles championship on Sunday night.

Just five minutes before midnight back in Maine, Bates clinched its first NCAA tennis doubles title, as Stein, at net, volleyed back a Bowdoin shot to win the final point, following a Rupasinghe serve at 40-0. It is Bates’ second NCAA tennis crown overall, as well as its second NCAA championship in any sport other than track.

Stein (Pelham, N.Y.) and Rupasinghe (Colombo, Sri Lanka) defeated Washington University’s Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4 in the semifinals.

Sunday afternoon.

Prior to the doubles win on Sunday, Stein (unseeded, just as he and Rupasinghe were in the doubles draw) was defeated in the NCAA singles championship by Emory University’s Chris Goodwin, Bates 7-5, 5-7, 6-1. Goodwin edged Stein in the first set, 7-5, and led 5-3 in the second set. Stein held serve to close the gap to 5-4, then broke Goodwin’s serve to stay alive and tie the set up at 5-5. Stein rode the momentum to capture the next two games and win the set, 7-5, sending the match to a third set, which Goodwin won decisively.

The Bates win finished up an exhausting three days for Stein in particular. The senior, who played at No. 6 singles for Bates as a freshman, played five singles matches and four doubles matches in the three-day span of the singles and doubles championships, going 4-1 in singles and 4-0 in doubles. In all, he played 24 sets over the three days, including three tiebreakers.