The seventh-ranked Middlebury men's tennis team saw its national championship run come to an end, falling 5-2 to #2 University of Chicago. The match began at 1:00 p.m. but was delayed for several hours due to lightning and rain.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• The Maroons jumped out to a 1-0 edge with a point at #2 doubles. Aidan Harris and Noah Laber fell behind 2-0 but battled back to tie the contest at three wins apiece. The comeback bid was not enough, as Derek Hsieh and Robert Zhang claimed eight of the next nine points to earn an 8-4 triumph.
• At the top of the lineup, Neel Epstein and Robby Ward trailed 4-1 and managed to cut the deficit to a pair (7-5), but the UChicago tandem of Andrei Leonov and Pat Otero hung on for the 8-5 victory.
• The match in the third slot came down to a tiebreaker which saw Arjun Asokumar and Jack Wong claim a tight 7-4 win over Thehan Wijemanne and Hugh Hentschel to put the Maroons up 3-0.
• Laber got the Panthers on the board, making quick work of his match at #1. He dropped just two games, claiming a straight-set (6-1, 6-1) victory to cut the deficit to 3-1.
• Otero put the match within reach for UChicago, earning a 6-2, 6-3 win over Noah Lewis in the sixth slot to extend the advantage to 4-1.
• Harris sliced the lead back down to 4-2, triumphing at #5 by the same score lines as the match at #6.
• In the second slot, Julian Wu had fallen 6-4 in the opening set to Hsieh and was knotted at 4-4 in the second. While the Panther was battling, Epstein had claimed his opener (6-1) and Ward had managed to flip his matchup (3-6, 6-3). The surge was not enough, as Hseih was able to win two-straight games against Wu to clinch the match and secure a 5-2 triumph for the Maroons. 

NOTES

• This marked Middlebury's 21st appearance in the NCAA Semifinals.
• The Panthers and the Maroons have met three times, with all matches coming at this stage in the national tournament. Tonight's victory by UChicago was the first over Middlebury, as the Panthers won 5-2 in 2015 and 5-1 in 2016 to advance to the championship.
• Middlebury finishes the year with a 20-5 mark, having eclipsed the 20-win plateau for the 12th time in program history.
• Harris' victory was the 46th in his career, while Laber's was his 39th. 

Epstein, Ward and Wu return to the courts for the NCAA Individual Championships on May 26.