Knotted at 3-3, the third-ranked Middlebury men's tennis team pulled away from #5 Tufts to earn a 6-3 victory. With the win, the Panthers extend their unbeaten streak to five-straight triumphs.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Doubles duo Aidan Harris and Noah Laber grabbed the first point of the day, easing to an 8-4 victory in the second slot.
• The Jumbos leveled the match, as Derin Acarlogu and Vuk Vuksanovic edged Neel Epstein and Robby Ward 7-5 in a tiebreaker at #1.
• Middlebury regained its lead (2-1) when Hugh Hentschel and Joe Mairs squeaked past their opponents 8-6 in the third spot.
• Julian Wu started singles strong, cruising past Javier Gonzalez 6-2, 6-2 at #2 to increase the Panther advantage to 3-1.
• Tufts began mounting its comeback attempt, with Vuksanovic topping Laber in a three-set thriller (6-4, 3-6, 5-7) at #1 and Acarlogu edging Harris in the fourth slot (7-5, 2-6, 6-2) to tie the contest 3-3. 
• Ward gave Middlebury a 4-3 edge, easing to a straight-set win (6-1, 6-2) in the third slot.
• The Jumbos nearly tied the match again, but Hentschel forced a tiebreaker and dominated his opponent 7-0 to clinch the contest.
• The Panthers capped the day with a tight win (6-3, 7-5) by Epstein in the fifth slot.

NOTES

• The programs played for the 37th time with Middlebury holding a 23-14 advantage in the all-time series that started in 1926.

The Panthers travel to California next weekend for spring break, starting the trip with a 6:00 p.m. match on Saturday at the University of Redlands.