Middlebury picked up a huge win at home on Saturday afternoon, knocking off third-ranked Amherst (29-3, 8-1) by a score of 5-4 in a match played in the Nelson Recreation Center. The eighth-ranked Panthers (16-2, 6-0) earned their ninth-straight victory, ending the Jeffs 17-match winning streak. Middlebury wraps up its regular season at Tufts on Sunday.
Amherst took the 1-0 lead early when Joey Fritz and Justin Reindel earned an 8-6 win over Alex Johnston and Andrew Lebovitz. The Panthers evened the match at #2 when Brantner Jones and Palmer Campbell topped Aaron Revsin and Andrew Yaraghi, 8-3. It took a 7-5 tie-breaker win in the third set, as Peter Heidrich and Ari Smolyar gave their team a 2-1 lead with a 9-8 win over Anton Zykov and Michael Solimano. The duo came from down 4-7 to earn the point.
Johnston put the Panthers on the board in singles play, with a 7-6 (4), 6-0 win over the 14th-ranked player in the country, Joey Fritz at #1 singles. Solimano beat Campbell 6-4, 6-3 at #3, before Ari Smolyar earned a 6-4, 6-1 at #4 singles against Zykov, giving Middlebury a 4-2 lead.
At #2, Jones dropped the first set (5-7) after being up 5-2 and serving, but bounced back to win the second (6-4). He won a critical game at 3-3 to go up a break in set three, eventually earning the 6-4 win to seal the match for the Panthers.
Yaraghi topped Courtney Mountifield 6-1, 6-3 at #5, while Reindel defeated Jackson Frons 6-1, 6-3 in the sixth spot to make it a 5-4 final.
