The third-ranked Middlebury men's tennis team remained perfect at 4-0 in NESCAC play and improved to 8-2 overall in dual matches with an 8-1 conference road victory Saturday over ninth-ranked Williams in a match played inside the Lansing Chapman Rink. The Panthers remain on the road for a 1:00 p.m. match on Sunday against #17 Tufts.

Middlebury secured a 3-0 lead after doubles play. The top Panther tandem of Ari Smolyar and Noah Farrell secured the first point against the Ephs with an 8-6 victory over Brian Grodecki and Alex Schidlovsky. In the third spot, Kyle Schlanger and William de Quant gave the Panthers their second point with an 8-5 win over Brian Astrachan and Rohan Shastri, while the team of Palmer Campbell and Hamid Derbani posted a narrow 9-8 (5) triumph in the second flight over Jordan Sadowsky and Jose Raventos.

In singles play, the Panthers were victorious in five of the six matches. Smolyar gave the visitors a 4-0 lead via a 6-1, 6-1 triumph over Shastri at #2, while Campbell clinched the match with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory over Grodecki in the third flight.

In the fourth spot, de Quant tallied a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 win over Sachin Raghavan, while Farrell, the nation's top-ranked player, gave the Panthers a 7-0 advantage with a 7-5, 6-4 triumph at #1. The Ephs picked up their lone point of the match in the fifth spot of the lineup when Deepak Indrakanti posted a 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 victory over Derbani.

At #6, Sadowsky took the first set 6-4 and led 5-4 in the second set against Timo van der Geest, but he was forced to retire giving van der Geest the win and the Panthers an 8-1 victory.