The fourth-ranked Panther men's tennis team fell behind 3-0 after doubles play, but the Panthers responded by taking the first five singles matches on their way to a 5-4 home victory over #9 Williams (8-3, 1-1) on Saturday. The match was played indoors in the Duke Nelson Recreation Center. Middlebury (12-1, 2-0) returns to action Sunday when it hosts #19 Tufts at 11:30 a.m.

During doubles play, the Ephs were victorious in all three matches. The No. 1 duo of Alex Taylor and Brian Grodecki got the visitors on the board with an 8-3 win over Middlebury's Lubomir Cuba and William de Quant. Benjamin Lebowitz and Sachin Raghavan doubled the Williams' lead at No. 3 with an 8-6 victory against Allen Jackson and Timo van der Geest. The No. 2 flight of Jordan Sadowsky and Rohan Shastri edged Panthers Hamid Derbani and Kyle Schlanger in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (6).

In singles play, the momentum completely switched, as the Panthers were victorious in five of the six matches, including straight sets during the five wins. Cuba put the hosts on the board when he won in the top spot by scores of 6-2, 6-0 over Shastri, while de Quant brought Middlebury to within one via a 6-4, 6-1 victory in the second position versus Grodecki. Derbani was the next to finish, knotting the match at 3-3 with a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 3 against Sachin Raghavan.

Schlanger gave the Panthers the lead for good with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Deepak Indrakanti at No. 4, while Jackson clinched the match with a 6-0, 6-2 win in the sixth position over Ananth Raghavan. At No. 5, van der Geest and Taylor split the first two sets, before Taylor recorded a 1-6, 7-6 (5), 10-8 victory to round out the scoring.