In a battle of nationally-ranked men's tennis teams, third-ranked Middlebury fell by a slim 5-4 score in a back-and-forth match Tuesday evening during its spring break trip to ninth-ranked Pomona-Pitzer in Claremont, California. The Panthers (7-1) look to return to the win column Wednesday with a match against #18 Redlands at 6:00 p.m.

During doubles action, the Sagehen team of Antony Bello and Spencer Simonides were the first off the court with an 8-0 win over Chris Frost and William de Quant at #3. Middlebury's Noah Farrell and Ari Smolyar tied the match at 1-1 with an 8-5 win at #2, but Pomona-Pitzer's Connor Hudson and Kalyan Chadalavada rallied for a 5-3 deficit for an 8-6 win at #1 against Palmer Campbell and Peter Heidrich.

Pomona-Pitzer (15-3), ranked ninth nationally and third in the ITA's west region, took a 2-1 advantage into singles action. Campbell squared the match at 2-2 with a 6-0, 6-2 victory at #3 over Josh Kim, while Smolyar improved his season record to 19-1 via his 13th-straight win, a 6-3, 6-3 win against Hudson in the top flight.

With the Panthers clinging to a narrow 3-2 lead, the Sagehens rattled off three-straight individual victories to earn the victory. Yasgoor defeated Farrell at #2 (6-3, 6-1), Graham Maassen needed three sets to defeat Jackson Frons in the fourth spot (6-3, 4-6, 7-5) and Sam Malech clinched the team victory as he edged Allen Jackson at #6 (5-7, 6-0, 6-2).

Middlebury's Courtney Mountifield battled back from a set down and rounded out the scoring with a 4-6, 7-5, 10-6 triumph in the fourth flight.