Bates College

Bates sophomore Chris Ellis and senior Pierre Planche defeated opponents from Wesleyan and Amherst on Sunday at Middlebury College, finishing off their run at the ITA Northeast Regional Men's Doubles Championship.

Ellis (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Planche (Natick, Mass.) will advance to compete for the national title at the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships, held October 9-12 at the Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, S.C. 

The win also clinches ITA All-America honors for both players. Planche now becomes a two-time All-America selection, and Ellis becomes the 11th player in program history to win an All-America award.

Ellis and Planche, the top seeds in the field defeated second-seeded Michael Solimano and Aaron Revzin of Amherst 6-2, 7-6 (5) for the title, Bates' first ITA regional title since Ben Stein '09 and Amrit Rupasinghe '10 in 2008. 

Ellis/Planche advanced to the finals with an 8-6 win Sunday morning over Jake Roberts and Sam Rudovsky of Wesleyan.