The fourth-ranked Panther men's tennis team continued its Spring Break trip through Texas, picking up a pair of wins on Sunday. Middlebury started the day with a 7-2 win over Southwestern (Texas) followed by a 6-3 victory over #20 University of Texas-Tyler. Both matches were played at the Marvin D. Henderson Sr. Tennis Courts in Georgetown, Texas. Middlebury returns to the courts on Monday against #19 Gustavus Adolphus at 10:30 a.m., followed by a 3:30 p.m. contest with Division II St. Edwards.
During the match against Southwestern (10-4), the doubles tandem of Peter Martin and William de Quant started things off notching the team's first point with an 8-4 victory at No. 2 over Alexis Dimanche and Austin Moninger. The No. 3 flight of Allen Jackson and Timo van der Geest doubled the Panther lead with an 8-4 win against Dean Dulthummon and David Strong.
Southwestern cut the Middlebury lead in half when Nickoloz Snovely and Grant Gideon tallied an 8-4 win at #1 over Hamid Derbani and Kyle Schlanger.
In singles action, Jackson claimed the team's fourth point at No. 4 with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Neik Khansari, while van der Geest clinched the match at No. 3 with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Gideon. Weston Brach picked up a win at No. 6 by 6-3, 6-1 scores against Tyler Norman, while de Quant earned a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6 (2) win over Snovely in the top spot.
The Panthers' seventh point came from Alex Vanezis at No. 5 (6-3, 6-3) over Alonso Fernandez, while the Pirates concluded the scoring with a 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4) win from Dimanche over Schlanger at #2.
Later in the day against UT-Tyler (11-3), the Panthers swept the doubles matches as the team of Schlanger and Derbani won by an 8-2 score in the No. 1 flight against Arthur Fagundes and Jose McIntyre. At No. 3, Jackson and van der Geest recorded an 8-3 win over Ryan Elwood and Ford Cunningham, while de Quant and Martin earned an 8-5 triumph at No. 2 against Joey Fischer and Pablo Gomez.
The Panthers shuffled their singles lineup around against the Patriots. Jackson remained perfect on the day at No. 4 with a 6-0, 6-2 triumph over Gomez, while Vanezis clinched the match for the Panthers at No. 5 by scores of 6-3, 6-2 over Fischer. Derbani made the score 6-0 in favor of Middlebury via a 6-3, 6-4 victory in the No. 2 spot against Vinicio Hadlich.
The final three matches all went to UT Tyler in third-set superbreakers. Daniel Rodriguez defeated van der Geest at No. 3 (6-2, 3-6, 10-5), Fagundes bested de Quant atop the lineup (4-6, 6-4, 10-1), while McIntyre edged Brach in the sixth spot (7-6 (6), 4-6, 10-8).