MEDFORD, MA (March 11, 2023) – Freshman
Alex Ganchev earned a clutch three-set win in third singles to lock up an eventual 6-3 victory by the fifth-ranked Tufts University men's tennis team over #4 Middlebury College on Saturday at the Gantcher Center.
The Jumbos had steamrolled through doubles, barely trailing in any of the three matches. The second pair of
Josh Belandres and
Rishabh Sharda won four of the first five games against Neel Epstein and Robby Ward - ranked 20th nationally - and went on to an 8-3 win to get Tufts started. With an even better start, Ganchev and
Jack Moldenhauer led third doubles 6-1 before ending up with an 8-3 victory against Zihao Yuan and Julian Yu from the Panthers. The #2 in the nation Tufts duo of
Derin Acaroglu and
Vuk Vuksanovic also built a 4-1 advantage at #1 and then held off Middlebury's Noah Laber and Aidan Harris 8-5.
The visiting Panthers wouldn't go down quietly in singles. Wu got them on the scoreboard with a quick 6-2, 6-0 victory on the fifth singles court. However, Acaroglu - #24 nationally in singles - returned the favor with his 6-2, 7-5 win in the fourth spot putting the hosts on the verge of victory up 4-1.
Laber then finished off a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Tufts' Sharda in the first singles match for a 4-2 score. With Middlebury's Epstein, who has a top 50 national singles ranking, winning the first set over Ganchev in the third match, and the Panthers taking early leads in #2 and #6 singles, the Jumbo advantage was anything but certain.
Ganchev would come through though. He evened his match with a strong 6-3 win in the second set, then had a 4-2 lead in the decisive third set. Epstein stormed back, taking a 5-4 lead. However, Ganchev rallied to win the final three games and earn the clinching victory with a 7-5 third set.
The teams split the remaining two matches which went to third-set super tie-breakers. Tufts freshman
Javier Gonzalez defeated Yuan 4-6, 6-2, 10-7 at #6 and at #2 Harris won over Vuksanovic (Tufts) 6-4, 6-7 (8), 10-7
Tufts' tough weekend continues tomorrow when #7 Williams College visits for a NESCAC match starting at 2 pm.
--JUMBOS--
