MIDDLEBURY — In a Sunday duel of men’s tennis teams ranked in the top 10 in NCAA Division III, No. 6 Middlebury defeated visiting No. 2 Emory, 6-3, on the Proctor tennis courts.
The Panthers, who also defeated NESCAC foes Williams and Tufts last week, ran their winning streak to six, and improved to 14-2. They will host No. 8 Bowdoin on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Panthers won two of the three doubles matches. Palmer Campbell and Peter Heidrich put the hosts up, 1-0, with an 8-3 victory in the top spot over Alex Ruderman and Ian Wagner, the Atlantic South’s top-ranked team. The Eagle duo of Rafe Mosetick and David Omsky tied the match with an 8-2 victory at No. 3 against Chris Frost and William de Quant, while Panthers Ari Smolyar and Noah Farrell earned an 8-5 win over Eric Halpern and Aman Manji.
In singles play, Manji tied the score at 2-2 with a 6-0, 6-4 win at No. 6 over Allen Jackson. At No. 5, de Quant posted a 6-3, 6-4 win over Josh Goodman. In the top flight, Smolyar, the region’s top-ranked player, improved his record this season to 25-2, defeated the third-ranked player in Ruderman, 6-4, 6-2, to give Middlebury a 4-2 lead.
At No. 3, Mosetick pulled the Eagles to within one at 4-3, defeating Campbell in three sets. Campbell won the first set, 7-6 (7-5), but Mosetick took the next two, 7-5, 6-4.
The Panthers then pulled out three-set wins in the final two matches. Jackson Frons clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 win over Wagner at No. 4, while Farrell earned a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 triumph over Halpern.