The Middlebury men's tennis team started its spring break trip through California with a 7-2 setback to Division II Azusa Pacific on Saturday at the M&B Tennis Complex. The fourth-ranked Panthers (5-1) return to the courts on Monday with a 1:00 p.m. match at UC Santa Cruz, followed by a 6:00 p.m. contest against Merrimack at Pomona-Pitzer.

The 14th-ranked Cougars (17-0) took two of the three doubles points on Saturday. The tandem of Oliver Frank and Christian Schmid, ranked No. 1 in Division II, edged Middlebury's Lubomir Cuba and Kyle Schlanger, 8-6. Azusa Pacific's Jakob Schnaitter and Tony Pejic made it a 2-0 Cougar lead with an 8-4 win at No. 2 against Peter Martin and Timo van der Geest. Middlebury got on the board when Nate Eazor and Andre Xiao tallied an 8-5 triumph over Ryan Nuno and Jesse Haas in the third position.

During singles action, Ronald Kang gave Azusa Pacific a 3-1 advantage with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Alex Vanezis in the fourth spot. Schnaitter pushed the Cougar lead to 4-1 via a 6-1, 6-1 triumph against van der Geest at No. 3, while Schmid clinched the match with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Schlanger in the second position.

Atop the lineup, a battle of top-10 opponents saw Frank, ranked third in Division II, edge Cuba, Division III's ninth-ranked player, by a 6-1, 7-6 (7) tally, giving the hosts a 6-1 lead. Eazor tallied the Panthers' second point by the slimmest of margins, posting a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) win over Ryan Nuno at No. 5. The Cougars closed out the match in the sixth spot with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory from Pejic against Xiao.