The 14th-ranked/fifth-seeded Middlebury men's tennis team earned a hard-fought 4-3 victory over third-ranked/top-seeded Tufts in conference quarterfinal action from the Nelson Recreation Center. With the victory, the Panthers move on to Sunday's Championship match and take on third-seeded Bowdoin at 11:00 a.m. on the Outdoor Tennis Courts.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Middlebury quickly grabbed a 1-0 lead by securing the doubles point. The pair of Noah Laber and Thehan Wijemanne never lost the lead in a 6-3 triumph at #1, while Neel Epstein and Reif Larsen broke a 5-5 tie to win 7-5 in the third position.
• Tufts battled back to begin singles action. In the second slot, Javier Gonzalez earned a straight-set triumph (6-4, 6-3) and Garv Bahl rebounded from dropping the first set to tally a three-set victory (3-6, 6-0, 6-3) at #6 to take a 2-1 edge.
• Wijemanne knotted the match at two points apiece minutes later in the fourth position. After falling in a tiebreaker in the opener, the Panther grabbed consecutive 6-2 decisions to secure the three-match marathon.
• Epstein also dropped his opening set (6-2) to Derin Acaroglu at #3, but rallied back with 6-3 and 7-5 results to put the Panthers ahead 3-2.
• In the top slot, Vuk Vuksanovic earned a 6-4, 6-2 victory to deadlock the match at three wins apiece.
• Hugh Hentschel claimed his opening set by a 6-3 score before triumphing 6-2 at #5 to clinch the contest and the 4-3 victory for Middlebury.

NOTES

• Epstein has claimed seven-straight singles matches.
• The Panthers and the Jumbos met for the 38th time with Middlebury improving to 24-15 in the series.

The Panthers advance to the NESCAC Championship for the 17th time and seek their 12th conference crown.