The sixth-ranked Middlebury women's tennis team handed #4 Wesleyan its first loss of the season, as the Panthers outlasted the Cardinals 5-4 in a five-hour back-and-forth battle. Gena Huang clinched the match in a 7-3 third-set tiebreaker win at #5. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Middlebury grabbed the first point of the day at the top of the doubles lineup. Sahana Raman and Nathalie van der Reis jumped out to a commanding 6-1 lead and never looked back, easing to an 8-4 victory.
• The Panthers made it 2-0 with a point at #3. Nina Farhat and Sami Remis trailed 5-3, but battled back. The match was tied at 5-5 and 6-6, before the tandem was able to pull away for the 8-6 triumph.
• Wesleyan duo Caitlyn Ferrante and Nika Vesely edged Amy Delman and Brinlea La Barge 8-6 in the second slot, cutting the deficit to one (2-1).
• The Cardinals tied the match at 2-2 with a straight-set victory at #3.
• Van der Reis put Middlebury back in front 3-2 with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph in the fourth slot. 
• Wesleyan earned wins at #1 and #6 to take a 4-3 edge, but Delman took care of business quickly in the second spot, claiming a 6-1, 6-4 win to knot the match 4-4.
• The final point came down to an intense match at #5.  Huang won the first set 6-2, but Sarah Youngberg dug deep to claim the second 6-4. The third set came down to a tiebreaker. With the athletes knotted 3-3, Huang pulled away to win the tiebreaker 7-3 and clinch the victory for Middlebury. 

NOTES

• Huang snapped Youngberg's nine-match winning streak. 
• Van der Reis claimed her 12th-straight victory.
• Huang and Delman each won their 25th career matches. 
• The teams met for the 32nd time today, with the Panthers owning a 24-8 mark in the all-time series.

 
Middlebury (4-0) and #7 Amherst (2-0) sit atop the NESCAC rankings as the only teams without a loss thus far in conference play.