The #16 Middlebury men's squash team kept their winning ways going with two NESCAC victories on the weekend. The Panthers dispatched #22 Bates 8-1 on Saturday before grinding out a 5-4 win on Sunday against #20 Colby.

HIGHLIGHTS VS. BATES

• Bates grabbed a 1-0 lead with a sweep at the top of the ladder.
• Middlebury immediately grabbed momentum. Ronin Kaplan (11-6, 11-6, 11-0) and Nico Brown (11-7, 11-4, 11-6) secured 3-0 decisions at #7 and #6, respectively, to push the Panthers in front 2-1.
• Charlie Clifford tallied the third triumph for the navy and white via an 11-3, 11-0, 11-1 decision in the ninth slot over Gray Veague before Theo Kogan cruised past his opponent (11-6, 11-4, 11-4) in the middle of the ladder.
• Naum Lekovic clinched the match for the Panthers with a sweep (11-6, 11-6, 11-3) over John Kim at #8.
• Kian Kardestuncer, Caleb Boateng and Aditya Kothari closed the match with triumphs in the second, fourth and third slots, respectively.

HIGHLIGHTS VS. COLBY

• The sides split the first two matches. Colby earned a sweep in the top spot before Kogan countered with his four-game win over Timo Radionov (13-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-3) at #6. 
• The back and forth continued as the battle progressed. Sebastian Campos downed Brown in a five-set thriller at #7, while Lekovic knotted the contest at 2-2 with an 11-3, 11-2, 11-9 sweep against Oliver Riordan in the ninth position.
• Zhao and Hamza Wessam needed five games to decide a winner at #2. After falling behind 2-0, Wessam ripped off three wins in a row to put Colby back in front at 3-2.
• Middlebury finally snatched the momentum back. After dropping the initial game 11-8, Boateng rattled off three consecutive games at #5. Kaplan followed suit, sweeping Avery Rosenberg (11-5, 11-6, 11-8) in the eighth position to put the hosts on the verge of clinching the match.
• Kothari and Carlos Zendejas went back and forth in the third slot, as the Mules needed the win to push the contest to a winner-take-all ninth match. Zendejas jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Kothari countered with consecutive 11-4 results to set up a decisive fifth. Feeding off the Panther faithful, Kothari secured an 11-6 victory to seal the thriller and the match.
• In the final match of the contest, Youssef Mostafa tallied a four-game win over Kardestuncer (11-6, 7-11, 11-4, 11-4).

NOTES

• Boateng surpassed 30 career victories in his triumph against the Bobcats, while Kothari earned his 20th in the navy and white.
• The Panthers grabbed their 19th series win over Bates.
• With Sunday's triumph, the squad snaps a seven-match losing streak to the Mules.

Middlebury returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts #25 Hamilton at 4:30 p.m.