Box Score The fifth-ranked Middlebury men's tennis team had a strong showing at the ITA New England Regional over the weekend, with Neel Epstein being crowned the singles runner-up. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Epstein cruised in his first pair of matches, winning each by straight sets. The Panther outlasted Mark Kneiss of Bowdoin in the round of 16 (6-4, 3-6, 6-3) and claimed a third-set tiebreaker against Wesleyan's JT Bilski in quarterfinal action. Epstein fell 6-1 in the opening set of the semifinals against MIT's Kailas Kahler, but rebounded to take the match (6-1, 6-4) before falling in straight sets in the championship bout.
• Hugh Hentschel, Nikky Kondamuri, Noah Laber and Noah Lewis all won their opening matches of the weekend. Kondamuri and Lewis finished with 2-1 marks, while Laber advanced to the quarterfinals before falling in a tight third set.
• In the singles B draw, Thehan Wijemanne had a first-round bye. Playing an eight-game pro set, Wijemanne claimed a pair of 8-4 victories, and a thrilling (7-6(5), 7-6(7)) match against Tufts' Nico Trembley before bowing out in the semifinals.
• The tandem of Kondamuri and Lewis grabbed one victory before dropping the match in the round of 16.
• The duos of Epstein and Hentschel and Laber and Wijemanne each advanced to the quarterfinals.  

NOTES

• Epstein eclipsed the 50 career victories mark in singles action over the weekend. 

Epstein travels to Rome, Georgia for the ITA Cup on October 10, while the rest of the Panthers are back in action the weekend of October 26th at the Boston University Hidden Dual.