AMHERST, Mass. — In a Saturday battle of two highly ranked NCAA Division III men’s tennis teams, host No. 4 Amherst blanked No. 6 Middlebury, 9-0, in a contest that saw close scores in individual matches. The match was the final of the regular season for both squads.
The Panthers (16-3, 6-1) still, however, will host the NESCAC tournament this weekend. Matches will run from Friday through Sunday.
In the three doubles matches last Saturday, Middlebury’s No. 2 duo of Ari Smolyar and Noah Farrell were defeated, 8-3, by Andrew Yaraghi and Anton Zykov, while the Panthers’ top tandem of Palmer Campbell and Peter Heidrich fell to Aaron Revzin and Michael Solimano, 8-6. Middlebury’s No. 3 tandem of William de Quant and Chris Frost battled Russell Einbinder and Andrew Scheiner, but lost, 9-8.
In singles play, Revzin defeated Jackson Frons at No. 4, 6-1, 7-6 (4), while Zykov clinched the fifth team point with a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the third flight over Campbell. At No. 5, Sean Rodriguez earned a 6-3, 6-4 win against de Quant.
The three remaining matches went to a third-set super tiebreaker. Solimano defeated Farrell 6-1, 4-6, 10-7, while Smolyar battled back from a set down but fell 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 to Yaraghi. In the sixth spot, Timo van der Geest lost 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3), 10-3 to Andrew Arnaboldi.