The Middlebury men's tennis team used solid singles play Wednesday evening, taking five of the six matches, en route to a 6-3 victory over 19th-ranked Pomona-Pitzer (7-6) at the Pauley Tennis Complex in Claremont, California. The Panthers improve to 5-2 and have a day off before returning to action on Friday when they take on #4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern.
 
The Sagehens moved out to a 2-0 lead with identical 8-5 victories at the #2 and #3 doubles spots. The Middlebury tandem of Stan Morris and David Vilys edged their opponents in the top spot in a tiebreaker (8-7 (5)) to slice the deficit to one (2-1) entering singles play.
 
Morris tied the match at 2-2 with a 6-1, 6-4 win at the top of the singles lineup, before Pomona-Pitzer regained a one-point lead with a straight-set victory one spot below. 
 
The Panthers concluded the match with four-straight singles triumphs to claim the team victory. Zihao Yuan earned a straight-set win at #6 (7-5, 6-4), before Zachary Hilty battled back from a set down for a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5) triumph at #5 to give the Panthers a 4-3 edge. Noah Laber edged his opponent in three sets in the third slot (7-5, 5-7, 6-2) to clinch the decisive fifth point, while Neel Epstein recorded a marathon three-set win at #4 (7-5, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (8) for the final 6-3 tally.