The sixth-ranked Middlebury men's tennis team tallied a 5-2 victory over #13 Amherst on Sunday from the Nelson Recreation Center.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Amherst earned the first point of the match in doubles. Sujit Chepuri and Albert Hu took a 6-3 victory at #3, while the duo of Rex Harrison and Spencer Leung rallied from a 4-2 deficit to post a 7-5 triumph in the second slot.
• The pairing of Neel Epstein and Noah Laber earned a 7-5 win at #1 to close out tandem play.
• The Panthers started singles strong with Thehan Wijemanne (7-5, 6-1) and Noah Lewis (6-4, 6-3) tallying consecutive straight-set triumphs in the sixth and fourth spots, respectively, to push the Panthers ahead 2-1.
• Laber recorded 6-4 victories in both sets at #2 for the squad's third point.
• At the top of the lineup, Julian Wu and Andreas Sillaste split the opening two sets, sending the match to a decisive third. Wu shut the door with a 6-1 triumph to clinch the contest.
• Hugh Hentschel earned a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the fifth slot to make the score 5-1.
• In the final battle of the day, Epstein tallied a 6-2 victory before Aldiyar Abzhan fired back with a 6-4 triumph to send the match to a superbreaker third. Abzhan took a 10-8 decision in the final set to close the 5-2 score.

NOTES

• Hentschel earned his 30th singles triumph in a Panther uniform.
• Wijemanne pushes his singles winning streak to sixth-straight.
• The Panthers tallied their 29th victory over the Mammoths in the all-time series.

Middlebury jets off to the West Coast for its annual spring break trip, playing in five matches. The stretch begins next Sunday against #18 Babson at 1:00 p.m. on the campus of Claremont-Mudd Scripts.