Third-ranked Middlebury squared off with #8 Trinity (Texas) in the NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament third-place match, as the Tigers edged the Panthers in the back-and-forth match, 5-4. All matches were played at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, California. The Panthers end their season at 21-5 as the fourth-place finish marks the team's best finish since 2010, while the Tigers end with a 26-7 mark.
Middlebury leapt out to a quick 2-1 lead after doubles play. At #2, the Middlebury tandem of Brantner Jones and Palmer Campbell were tied with the Trinity pair of Greg Haugen and Chas Mayer at 2-2. However, the Middlebury duo rattled off six of the next seven games for the first team point and an 8-3 win. In the third flight, the Panther duo of Ari Smolyar and Peter Heidrich secured the second point with an 8-4 victory over Charlie Curtis and Clayton Niess.
In the #1 match, Alex Johnston and Andrew Lebovitz battled with Trinity's Paxton Deuel and Nicolas Moreno. With the match tied at 7-7 after neither team possessed larger than a two-game advantage, Deuel and Moreno won the point via a 9-8 (7-2) score.
During singles play, Jones put the Panthers ahead by a 3-1 score with a victory in the second flight against Haugen by scores of 6-0 and 6-1. The Tigers pulled even at 3-3 with a pair of victories at #5 and #1. Middlebury's Courtney Mountifield fell in the fifth flight to Mayer (6-2, 6-3), while Deuel dropped the first set against Johnston at #1 (6-1) but cruised in the final two sets (6-1, 6-0). Trinity gained a 4-3 edge in the team score when Curtis edged Jackson Frons via a 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) scores at #6.
In the third flight, Campbell lost the first set by a 6-3 score to Moreno. However, he bounced back with a pair of 6-3 victories in sets two and three, respectively, knotting the match at 4-4.
In the decisive match at #4 singles, the opening set between Smolyar and Skinner went in favor of Skinner by a 7-5 tally. Smolyar answered winning the second set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-1). During the third and decisive set, Skinner clinched his individual match as well as the team win thanks to a 6-1 score.
Select Middlebury individuals will participate in the NCAA Division III Singles and Doubles Tournament set to take place Thursday through Saturday at the same venue.
