MIDDLEBURY — In a Sunday match that came down to two top-four NCAA Division III teams’ No. 1 singles players squaring off, host No. 4 Middlebury edged previously undefeated No. 2 Bowdoin, 5-4.
The teams were knotted at 4-4 when Panther Noah Farrell, ranked No. 1 in D-III, and Polar Bear Luke Tercek, ranked No. 10, met in singles, and Farrell prevailed in a three-set match, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, to give the Panthers the 5-4 NESCAC victory.
Middlebury improved to 10-2, 6-0 in league play, while Bowdoin dropped to 11-1, 4-1 NESCAC. No. 14 Amherst will visit the Panthers this Saturday.
The Polar Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead in doubles in the April 17 competition. The No. 3 duo of Chase Savage and Gil Roddy defeated Middlebury’s Kyle Schlanger and William de Quant, 8-2, while the No. 1 tandem of Luke Trinka and Luke Tercek defeated Panthers Ari Smolyar and Farrell, 8-5. The No. 2 Middlebury team of Hamid Derbani and Palmer Campbell then put the Panthers on the board headed to singles with an 8-2 victory against Bowdoin’s Kyle Wolfe and Jerry Jiang.
In singles action, the Panthers claim three straight matches to assume a 4-2 lead. Derbani took a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Roddy at No. 5, while Smolyar gave the Panthers a 3-2 advantage with a 6-2, 6-0 triumph against Trinka in the second slot. Campbell pushed the Panther edge to 4-2 with a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 3 over Wolfe.
The Polar Bears responded with a pair of three-set victories to knot the match at 4-4 and set up the decisive match at No. 1. Grant Urken came from a set down to defeat Timo van der Geest at No. 6 (6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-4), while Jiang defeated de Quant at No. 4 (6-4, 2-6, 7-5).