In a battle of nationally-ranked men's tennis teams, third-ranked Middlebury came from behind for a 5-4 victory in a back-and-forth match Saturday against #9 Wesleyan in the Nelson Recreation Center. The Panthers (3-0, 3-0) return to action during their spring break trip with six matches out in California beginning with a contest on March 26 at Concordia (Calif.).

During doubles action, the Panther #1 team of Ari Smolyar and Noah Farrell were the first off the court with an 8-5 win over Zachary Brint and Greg Lyon. Wesleyan's Michael Liu and Steven Chen tied the match at 1-1 with an 8-6 win at #2 against Palmer Campbell and Hamid Derbani. The Cardinals took a 2-1 lead headed to singles with an 8-6 triumph at #3 by Joachim Samson and Sam Ruovsky over William de Quant and Timo van der Geest.

In singles, Campbell squared the match at 2-2 with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at #3 over Tiago Eusebio, while Farrell improved his season record to 18-2 via a 6-4, 6-1 win against Liu in the top flight. With the Panthers clinging to a narrow 3-2 lead, the Cardinals rattled off two-straight individual victories. Samson defeated de Quant at #4 (6-0, 7-5), while Chen needed three sets to defeat Smolyar in the second spot (4-6, 6-4, 6-1).

Trailing 4-3 with two matches remaining on the court, Middlebury's Derbani cruised past Jake Roberts at #5 by identical 6-2, 6-2 scores. With the match in the balance, van der Geest clinched the match for the hosts with a 6-2, 7-5 triumph in the #6 spot.