In a battle of top-10 teams, the ninth-ranked Middlebury women's tennis team tallied a 7-2 victory Thursday evening over #5 Pomona-Pitzer at the Pauley Tennis Complex in Claremont, California. The Panthers (3-2) return to action on Friday with a 2:30 p.m. match at second-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

The visitors jumped out to a 2-1 lead after doubles play. Kaysee Orozco and Catherine Blazye started things with an 8-2 win at No. 2 over Caroline Casper and Arianna Chen. The Sagehens (10-4) knotted the score at 1-1 following an 8-4 victory from Maryann Zhao and Emily Chen in the top spot against Katherine Hughes and Christina Puccinelli. The Panthers gained the momentum entering singles play via a 9-7 triumph at No. 3 by Alexandra Fields and Maddi Stow against Grace Hruska and Joy Kim.

In singles, the Panthers claimed five of the six points, including four of those victories coming in straight sets. Hughes made it a 3-1 match with a 6-3, 6-4 victory at No. 6 over Hruska. Casper pulled Pomona-Pitzer to within one with a 7-5, 6-3 win against Puccinelli in the top slot.

Middlebury closed the match winning the last four matches to finish. Heather Boehm cruised over Mae Coyiuto at No. 3 (6-1, 6-3), Fields clinched the match when she defeated Zhao in the second spot (6-2, 7-5), while Blazye edged Arianna Chen at No. 4 (7-5, 6-4).

The Panthers posted the final point when Paradies and Kim split the first two sets, before Paradies battled back from a 5-2 deficit in the decisive set (3-6, 6-1, 7-5) for the final 7-2 score.