The No. 18 University of Redlands men's tennis team battled it out with third-ranked Middlebury College (VT) on Wednesday, forcing the match to come down to a pair of three-setters.  After taking two of the doubles showdowns, the Bulldogs faced an uphill battle in singles and eventually fell by a score of 3-6.

After the Panthers collected the first win of the day at No. 2 doubles, the Maroon and Gray answered with an 8-5 decision by the senior tandem of Nick Cummins (Rancho Mirage, CA) and Patrick Lipscomb (Irvine, CA) at the top slot.  Redlands grabbed a 2-1 lead in the match scoring with an 8-5 victory by sophomore Jake Ly (Torrance, CA) and freshman Joey Dulle (St. Louis, MO) at No. 3.

In singles, Middlebury regained the momentum by earning wins at Nos. 6 and 4. 

However, senior Taylor Hunt (Seattle, WA) halted the Panthers' rally with his impressive 6-1, 6-2 triumph at the No. 5 slot. 

The back-and-forth drama continued on Verdieck Courts, as Middlebury prevailed at No. 1 in two tight sets to take a 4-3 lead.

While needing both of the final matches to pull out the upset, the Bulldogs sat in great position by winning the first sets at Nos. 2 and 3.

But the Panthers pushed the Maroon and Gray to its limits, forcing the battles to go the distance in three sets.

Unfortunately for Redlands, neither went in favor of the home team, resulting in the tough 3-6 loss.  Sophomore Parker Wilson (Carlsbad, CA) battled through a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 effort, while Cummins' match could not have been much closer, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(5).

Redlands (10-5, 1-0 SCIAC) returns to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) competition on Friday, March 27, when it hosts Occidental College at 2 p.m. on Verdieck Courts.