MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - The Tufts University men's tennis team lost 5-3 to Middlebury College in the NESCAC Championship Match played at Wesleyan University on Sunday. The Jumbos were the #2 seed in the tournament and Middlebury, which won for the second staight year, was #1.
The Jumbos got off to a roaring start as the #2 doubles tandem of Isaac Gorelik and Paris Pentousis won 8-0. However, Middlebury would leave doubles with a 2-1 lead after wins at #1 by Stan Morris and David Vilys 8-6, and in the third match where Neel Epstein and Zachary Hilty won 8-5.
The match went back-and-forth with the early singles results. Tufts' Rishabh Sharda won his second singles match 6-2, 6-1 to tie the team score at 2-2. Middlebuy regained the lead with Morris defeating Gorelik 7-5, 6-1 in the #1 competition. Tufts again evened the score as freshman Vuk Vuksanovic had a 6-2, 7-5 victory in #3 singles.
However, Middlebury would take the next two matches to finish to solidify their victory. Zihao Yuan won sixth singles 6-4, 6-4 and Hilty closed out the victory with 6-4, 6-3 sucess at #4. Tufts' Derin Acaroglu was leading fifth singles when the match ended.
Tufts (17-2), which saw its 16-match winning streak end, will very likely earn an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament when selections are announced on Monday. Middlebury (18-2) gets NESCAC's automatic NCAA berth.
This was Tufts' second straight NESCAC final. They lost 5-4 to Williams College last year.
