WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Middlebury College men’s tennis team, ranked No. 8 in last week’s NCAA Division III poll, picked up three wins last week, including one over another ranked team that should move the Panthers up in the polls this week. The Panthers moved to 12-2 with the victories.
On this past Friday, the Panthers picked up a 6-3 win at No. 5 Williams (10-3, 3-1 NESCAC), sweeping all three doubles matches in the process.
The Middlebury No. 1 combination of Alex Johnston and Andrew Lebovitz took an 8-5 win over Matt Micheli and Alexander Schidlovsky. At No. 2, Palmer Campbell and Brantner Jones edged the Eph pairing of Conrad Harron and Brian Astrachan, 8-6.
On court three, Middlebury’s Peter Heidrich and Ari Smolyar battled the Eph duo of Jose Raventos and Rohan Shastri to an 8-8 score, resulting in a tiebreaker. The Williams’ tandem, ranked 16th nationally, couldn’t convert a match point at 6-5 lead, and Heidrich and Smolyar rattled off three points for an 8-6 win.
In singles, the Panthers’ Campbell defeated Howard Weiss in straight sets at No. 2, 6-2, 6-0. The decisive match point came from Jones at No. 3, with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-0 victory over Harron, ranked 13th nationally.
The Ephs got on the board at No. 1, where Micheli defeated Johnston, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. At No. 4, Schidlovsky defeated Courtney Mountifield, 2-6, 6-3, 8-6.
The Ephs and the Panthers split the last two matches. Smolyar downed Raventos at No. 5, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), before Astrachan defeated Jackson Frons at No. 6, 6-4, 6-2.
On Saturday, the Panthers defeated host and No. 29 Wesleyan, (8-5, 3-4) by a score of 7-2.
Winning doubles matches for Middlebury were the teams of Johnston and Lebovitz and Jones and Campbell.
Singles winners were Johnston, Jones, Smolyar, Mountifield and Frons, with all but Johnston winning in straight sets.
On Sunday, the Panthers bested host Trinity (7-5, 3-2), by an 8-1 score. Again, the teams of Johnston and Lebovitz and Jones and Campbell gave Middlebury a 2-1 lead after doubles play.
The Panthers then swept all six singles contests. Johnston, Campbell, Jones, Mountifield and Frons won in straight sets, while Smolyar prevailed in three sets.