In a matchup of top-10 nationally-ranked teams, the second-ranked Middlebury men's tennis team fell by a 6-3 score in NESCAC action to visiting No. 7 Wesleyan (10-2, 3-1). The match took place outdoors on the Proctor Tennis Courts. Middlebury (8-4, 1-1) returns to action tomorrow with an 11:00 a.m. home league match against Connecticut College, followed by a 2:30 p.m. contest with third-ranked Emory.

During doubles play, the Cardinals earned narrow victories in two of the three matches. The visitors tallied an 8-5 win in the top spot, followed by an 8-6 triumph one spot below. The Panthers sliced the lead in half when Aleksandr Samets and Andre Xiao edged Peter Anker and Zach Fleischman in a tiebreaker 8-7 (5) at No. 3.

In singles action, the Panthers leveled the match when Noah Farrell eased past Anker in the second spot (6-2, 6-1). Wesleyan regained the lead behind a straight-set victory at No. 4. Middlebury tied the score at 3-3 when Adam Guo defeated Princeton Carter by scores of 7-5, 6-2 in the fifth flight.

The Cardinals strung together wins at No. 6, No. 3 and No. 1, including two in three sets, for the final 6-3 score.