WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Third ranked Middlebury (8-2/4-0 NESCAC) defeated host and ninth ranked Williams (7-2/0-1 NESCAC) 8-1.
Saturday afternoon marked the Ephs' first home contest of the spring season, and cold outdoor temperatures compelled the dual to be moved from outdoors at the Torrence M. Hunt '44 Tournament Courts to the indoor confines of Lansing-Chapman Rink.
Not only was it the Ephs' first home contest since the fall, it was also their first match of NESCAC play all year, and they took on competition of the highest order squaring off against the reigning NESCAC Champions, Middlebury.
The Panthers swept the three doubles matches, leaving the purple and gold Ephs with a veritable mountain to climb in singles. Middlebury won 8-6 at #1 doubles,, but at two doubles the match went to a tiebreaker where the Panther duo of Hamid Derbani and Palmer Campbell edged past the Ephs' Jose Raventos and Jordan Sadowsky 9-8 (7-5). Middlebury won at three doubles 8-5.
The only recipe for victory for the Ephs required the home team to win five of six singles encounters. However, Middlebury emerged victorious in five of the six singles matches to end the Panthers two-match losing streak and extend the Eph string of losses to two.
The lone Eph win on the day came from Deepak Indrakanti who downed Hamid Derbani in three sets 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 at five singles.
Eph head coach Dan Greenberg commented, "Bad start in doubles, but fought back well, just didn't convert. Singles was better but they were just too good for us today. Hoping to bounce back tomorrow.
The Ephs will return to action tomorrow to play a NESCAC doubleheader at home in Lansing Chapman Rink. At noon the Ephs will tangle with Little Three rival, 11th ranked Wesleyan.
At 3:00 p.m. Williams will take on Connecticut College.
Middlebury 8, Williams College 1
Doubles
1. Noah Farrel/Ari Smolyar (M) def. Brian Grodecki/Alexander Schidlovsky (W) – 8-6
2. Hamid Derbani/Palmer Campbell (M) def. Jose Raventos/Jordan Sadowsky (W) – 9-8 (7-5)
3. Timo van der Geest/Kyle Schlanger (M) def. Brian Astrachan/Rohan Shastri (W) – 8-5
Singles
1. Noah Farrell (M) def. Jose Raventos (W) – 7-5, 6-4
2. Ari Smolyar (M) def. Rohan Shastri (W) – 6-1. 6-1
3. Palmer Campbell (M) def. Brian Grodecki (W) -- 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
4. William deQuant (M) def. Sachin Raghavan (W) -- 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
5. Deepak Indrakanti (W) def. Hamid Derbani (M) -- 6-4, 2-6, 10-5
6. Timo van de Geest (M) def. Jordan Sadowsky (W) – 6-4, 5-4 ret.
