The Middlebury women's tennis team, ranked 10th in Division III, fell to UC San Diego, the #15 team in Division II, by a narrow 5-4 score during its spring break trip to California at the Northview Tennis Courts. The Panthers (3-2) return to the court Wednesday with another match against a ranked Division II opponent in #17 Azusa Pacific at 4:30 p.m.

Middlebury raced out to an early 2-1 lead, taking two of three points during the doubles play. The tandem of Ria Gerger and Lily Bondy were the first to finish with an 8-4 win over Kyra Scott and Britta Mosser at #1. The Panther team of Alexandra Fields and Lauren Amos made it 2-0 via an 8-5 victory over Jasmine Hosseini and Nousha Nowamooz. At #2, the Tritons (11-6) cut the Middlebury lead in half with a narrow 8-6 win from Nava Nowamooz and Shannon Theisen against Kaysee Orozco and Jennifer Sundstrom.

In singles, Theisen tied the match at 2-2 as she was the first to come off the court with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Shannon Gibbs at #6. Mosser put the Tritons ahead by a point with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Orozco at #3, but Katie Paradies brought the match back to even with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph in the fifth flight over Nousha Nowamooz. In the back-and-forth match, Margot Marchese needed three sets for her point at #4 (6-4, 3-6, 7-5) over Nava Nowamooz.

With the Panthers up by one at 4-3, UC San Diego utilized a pair of three-set wins in the top-two slots for the victory. Hosseini pulled out a 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 decision over Bondy at #2, while Scott clinched the match for the Tritons with a 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-4 win at #1 against Gerger.