The 16th-ranked Middlebury men's squash team concluded a busy week by splitting a pair of matches played on Saturday at Franklin & Marshall's Mayser Center. The Panthers opened action with a narrow 5-4 setback to the 13th-ranked Diplomats, before cruising past #22 Dickinson, 7-2. After eight matches in as many days, the Panthers (7-3) have nearly a week off before returning to the court on Friday when they host #19 Williams at 5:00 p.m.

In the setback to Franklin & Marshall (4-5), the Diplomats raced out to a 3-1 lead with wins at #9, #6 and #2. Picking up the victory for the Panthers during that stretch was Ben Krant at #6 in four games (11-4, 7-11, 13-11, 11-7).

The Panthers grabbed the lead at 4-3 when William Cembalest edged his opponent in five games at #4, Jack Kagan was victorious in four games at #5 (11-1, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6) and Robert Rohrbach eased to a three-game victory in the seventh spot of the ladder (11-8, 11-8, 11-4).

Franklin & Marshall rallied with three-game wins at #1 and #3 for the 5-4 triumph.

Against Dickinson (4-7), Ryan Swope got the Panthers on the scoreboard with a three-game win at #9 (11-3, 11-5, 11-3), while William Kurth doubled the Middlebury advantage with a three-game sweep in the eighth slot (11-3, 11-4, 11-4). Points three and four were posted in four games by Cembalest at #4 (6-11, 13-11, 11-6, 11-7) and Jacob Ellen in the second spot (9-11, 11-1, 11-2, 11-3).

Krant tallied the match-clinching point with a five-game victory at #6 (3-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7). Dickinson recorded its first point of the match at #7 when Rohrbach was forced to retire due to injury.

Middlebury's other two wins came from Kagan at #5 (11-2, 11-8, 11-5) and Andrew Cadienhead in the third spot (11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7).  The Devils rounded out the scoring with a victory atop the ladder.