The fourth-ranked Panther men's tennis team continued its spring trip through California, picking up a pair of wins on Monday. Middlebury started the day with a come-from-behind 5-4 win over UC Santa Cruz followed by a 9-0 victory over Division II Merrimack. Middlebury returns to the courts on Tuesday against No. 14 Pomona-Pitzer at 7:00 p.m.

During the match against UC Santa Cruz (2-6), the doubles tandem of Lubomir Cuba and Kyle Schlanger started things off notching the team's first point with an 8-2 victory at No. 1 over Chad Stone and Ryan Dugan.

The Banana Slugs grabbed the next two points, both coming in tiebreakers. The No. 2 flight of A.J. Flora and Magnus Ibh edged the Panther duo of William de Quant and Nate Eazor 9-8 (4), while the UC Santa Cruz team of Floyd Penners and Chad Le Duff squeaked by Timo van der Geest and Peter Martin in the third spot, 9-8 (4).

In singles action, Andre Xiao evened the match at 2-2 with a 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 6 over Penners. Stone gave the Banana Slugs a slight lead via a 6-3, 6-4 win against van der Geest in the third spot.

The Panthers rattled off the next three matches to earn the team win. Eazor defeated Flora at No. 4 (6-3, 6-4), while Cuba fought back from a set down for a victory in the top spot over Le Duff (1-6, 7-5, 6-4). Alex Vanezis also battled back after dropping the opening set, posting a 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 triumph over Dugan at No. 5 for the team's fifth point. Ibh rounded out the scoring for UC Santa Cruz with a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win against Schlanger at No. 2.

Later in the day against Merrimack (8-5), the Panthers swept the doubles matches as the team of Cuba and Schlanger won by an 8-6 score in the No. 1 flight against Mikhail Belov and Frank Vega. At No. 3, Eazor and Xiao recorded an 8-5 win over Tyler Clontz and Paul Weidinger, while van der Geest and Martin earned an 8-6 triumph at No. 2 against Denis Davydov and Alex Fedorov.

The Panthers shuffled their singles lineup around against the Warriors. Weston Brach posted a 6-1, 6-0 triumph at No. 5 over Clontz, while Martin clinched the match for the Panthers at No. 6 by scores of 6-2, 6-2 over Weidinger. Xiao made the score 6-0 in favor of Middlebury via a 6-1, 6-1 victory in the No. 3 spot against Fedorov.

Vanezis stayed perfect for the day with a 6-0, 6-3 win against Davydov, while van der Geest edged Belov by identical 7-5, 7-5 set scores in the top spot. Adam Guo completed the sweep with a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 10-4 win over Vega at No. 4.