The ninth-ranked Middlebury men's tennis team made its spring return to the courts on Saturday, cruising to a 7-0 road triumph over #20 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
HIGHLIGHTS
- Reif Larsen and Thehan Wijemanne joined forces for the initial doubles win, earning a 6-3 triumph over the #2 Engineer duo of Debarshi Sen and Cade Collingwood.
- The Panthers used 7-4 tiebreakers to prevail in the #1 and #3 tilts. Hugh Hentschel and Andrew Yim logged a 7-6 win over Felix Puyplat and Aiden Atri to secure the doubles point, while Julian Wu and Noah Lewis replicated the score in the top slot.
- Wijemanne opened singles play with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Puyplat at #3. Larsen dropped just one game across his win in the fourth position (6-0, 6-1) to give the guests a 3-0 edge.
- Anand Sahasrabudhe breezed through his matchup in the sixth slot (6-2, 6-0) to clinch the match before Hentschel (6-2, 6-1) bested Atri at #5. Wu claimed the top singles battle by retirement, holding a commanding 6-3, 3-0 lead before the match was called.
- The longest match of the day came at #2. Lewis grinded out a 7-6 win over Tsubasa Okada in the opening set, taking the tiebreaker 9-7. He cruised to a 6-2 decision in the second frame to finalize the match.
NOTES
- Wu picked up his 70th singles victory in a Middlebury uniform.
- Lewis tallied his 30th doubles win in the navy and white.
- The Panthers earned their 50th triumph over RPI in the all-time series.
Middlebury readies for a road NESCAC weekend, traveling to face Connecticut College on Saturday, March 7 at 10:00 a.m. before taking on Wesleyan the following day.
