The Middlebury men's tennis team advanced to the NESCAC Championship match after a 5-0 win at 16th-ranked Bowdoin (11-9) in a semifinal contest. The third-ranked Panthers (18-2) will look for their seventh NESCAC title on Sunday, when they face fourth-ranked Amherst at Bowdoin with a 2:00 p.m. start time.

Middlebury took a 3-0 lead after doubles play in three highly-contested matches. Ari Smolyar and Peter Heidrich earned an 8-5 win over Chris Lord and Chase Savage at #3 to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. The lead doubled when Brantner Jones and Palmer Campbell topped Noah Bragg and Kyle Wolstencroft by the same score in the second slot. The top doubles match went to a tie-breaker, where Panthers Alex Johnston and Andrew Lebovitz edged Luke Trinka and Sam King, 9-8 (9-7).

Johnston put the Panthers one win away with a tight 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Bragg at #1 singles. Shortly thereafter, Smolyar clinched the match when he defeated Lord, 6-2, 7-5 in the #4 slot.

Jones, Campbell, and Courtney Mountifield were each up a set in their respective matches.