Granville, Ohio - DePauw advanced to the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship title match for the third straight year after a 5-3 semifinal win at Denison in a match that last over five and one-half hours.
With the win, #33 and second-seeded, DePauw improved to 12-10 and will face Kenyon in Sunday's 2 p.m. championship match. Denison, ranked 35th in Division III and seeded third in the tournament, dropped to 11-10.
Denison took a 1-0 lead after its first doubles duo of Grant Veltman and Jackson O'Gorman-Bean defeated Eric Vannatta and Alec Kaczkowski by an 8-6 score. DePauw then took a 2-1 lead as Chris Bertolini and Dan Rodefeld topped Casey Cempre and Jeffrey LoDuca at second doubles, 8-5, and the third doubles tandem of Patrick Farrell and Harold Martin were 8-3 winners over Owen Smith and Jack O'Koniewski.
DePauw extended its lead to 4-1 as Kaczkowski was a 6-4, 6-3 winner over O'Gorman-Bean at second singles and Rodefeld topped Cempre at third singles by a 6-3, 2-6, 6-0 score.
Denison closed the gap to 4-3 as O'Koniewski defeat Farrell at fourth singles 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 and Veltman was a 1-6 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 winner over Bertolini at the first spot.
Matt Santen clinched the win for the Tigers with a 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 win over Smith at sixth singles.