The fifth-ranked Middlebury women's tennis team fell 5-1 to #1 University of Chicago (UChicago) in the NCAA Semifinals on Tuesday afternoon at the United States Tennis Association National Campus in Orlando, Florida. The Panthers finish the season with a record of 18-6. The Maroons (22-1), who are riding a 22-match winning-streak, advance to the national championship for the first time in program history and will take on #4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. 
 
Middlebury made its eighth trip to the quarterfinals and advanced to the semifinals for the fourth time in program history. 
 
UChicago earned the first point of the day with an 8-5 victory in the third spot of the doubles lineup. Middlebury's Sahana Raman and Claudia Miller jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Maroons came from behind to edge the pair and put UChicago up 1-0. 
 
The Maroons doubled their lead with a point at #1. The match was tied at 3-3 and again at 5-5, but UChicago tallied two-straight games to grab its second point and make it 2-0.
 
Panther tandem Brinlea La Barge and Sami Remis got out to a 5-2 advantage on the middle court. The Maroons battled back to tie the match at five games apiece. After taking a 6-5 edge, the Middlebury pair closed out the match 8-5 behind power service games by both Remis and La Barge, cutting the deficit to one (2-1) heading into singles.
 
UChicago increased the lead to 3-1 with a straight-set victory (6-1, 6-2) at the top of the lineup. 
 
The Maroons went up 4-1 behind a close point in the second spot in a battle between Claudias. Claudia Ng of UChicago never trailed in the first set, securing a 6-3 win. In the second set, Miller of Middlebury came from behind to knot the set at 3-3, but ultimately fell 6-3. 
 
The final point came at #5. Gena Huang dropped the first set 6-1, but battled back and made it an exciting second set. The score was tied at 2-2 and 3-3, before the Maroons won two-straight games to take a 5-3 edge. Huang forced deuce twice in the ninth game, but UChicago hung on for the 6-3 victory and a spot in the championship match.
 
When the contest was clinched, Amanda Frank won her first set at #6 in a thrilling tiebreaker (7-6(6)), but was down 2-0 in the second. Amy Delman had dropped her opening set in the fourth spot 6-3, but was up 5-4 in the second. Raman edged her opponent 7-5 in the initial set at #2 and was down 4-3 in the second set.