The seventh-ranked Middlebury men's tennis team trailed 4-2 but was able to flip a trio of three-set singles matches to come from behind and knock off #5 Emory 5-4 in NCAA Quarterfinal action. The triumph was the 20th of the season for the Panthers, as they advance to the national semifinals on Wednesday. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Eagle duo Dean Kamenev and Nolan Shah earned the first point of the day in the second slot of doubles. The pair jumped out to a commanding 6-0 advantage and despite Aidan Harris and Noah Laber earning two-straight wins, the tandem could not overcome the deficit. Kamenev and Shah secured the 8-3 victory to put Emory up 1-0.
• The Panthers knotted the match at one triumph apiece. The duo of Hugh Hentschel and Thehan Wijemanne grabbed a 4-1 lead to start the match, but Eagle pair Christina Liew and Justin Waldman cut the deficit to one (4-3). Hentschel and Wijemanne stood tall, claiming seven of the next eight games to secure an 8-4 win. 
• Emory took a 2-1 edge with a point during a tight battle at the top of the lineup. The match was tied six times before the tandem of Brandon Cohen and Ryan Glanville earned two-consecutive victories over Neel Epstein and Robby Ward for the 8-6 triumph.
• Liew bounced back in singles action, claiming a straight-set win (6-1, 6-4) over Harris at #5 to put the Eagles up 3-1.
• Knotted 3-3 in the opening set at the top of the lineup, Laber won three-consecutive games to earn a 6-3 win. That was all the Panther needed to blank his opponent in the second set, cutting the deficit back down to one (3-2).
• Waldman also came back strong in singles play after losing in doubles, earning a 6-0, 6-3 victory at #4 to give Emory a 4-2 advantage.
• In the second slot, Julian Wu came out impressively with a 6-4 triumph, but fell 6-2 in the second to force a third set. Down 3-1 in the decisive frame, Wu rattled off five-straight games for the 6-3 victory, slicing the Eagle's lead to one (4-3).
• Ward earned a commanding 6-2 win to open play at #3 against Glanville. The pair battled back-and-forth in the middle frame, forcing a tiebreaker. The tiebreak was deadlocked six times, but Glanville was able to win two-straight points for the 8-6 triumph to force a third set. Knotted at 5-5 in the final match, Ward was able to hold off Glanville for the 7-5 win, tying the contest at 4-4.
• The match came down to the bout at #6 between Noah Lewis and Emilio Van Cotthem, as both players did not play in doubles action. With fresh legs on the court, the pair squared off for just over three hours. Van Cotthem took the initial set by a 7-3 tiebreaker, but Lewis claimed a 6-4 second-set win. With a trip to the national semifinal on the line, Lewis jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the final frame. Glanville battled back to cut the deficit to three (5-2), but it wasn't enough. Knotted at 30-30 in the final game, Lewis closed out the set to earn a 6-2 win and send the Panthers back to the final four.

NOTES

• Wu's win was his team-high 25th this season and the 50th of his career.
• The victory by Lewis was his fifth-straight triumph.
• Middlebury and Emory met for the 14th time overall with the Panthers avenging their pair of NCAA Quarterfinal losses from 2007 and 2011.
• Middlebury advances to the semifinals for the ninth-straight time and 16th time overall.
• The Panthers eclipsed the 20-win plateau for the 12th season in program history, each of them coming in the last 16 years.

Middlebury will square off with #2 University of Chicago in the NCAA Semifinals on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. from the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in St. Louis, Missouri.