MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - The Bowdoin College men's tennis team dropped a 7-2 decision to Middlebury in a battle of nationally-ranked teams Saturday in Vermont.

The 12th-ranked Polar Bears fall to 9-6 with the loss. Eighth-ranked Middlebury moves to 14-2 with its seventh-straight win.

Middlebury took two of three doubles matches to grab an early lead. At #2, Middlebury's Brantner Jones and Palmer Campbell grabbed an 8-3 victory over Noah Bragg and Kyle Wolstencroft. The Polar Bears secured their point at #1 as Sam King and Luke Trinka defeated Alex Johnston and Andrew Lebovitz, 8-5. The hosts secured a 2-1 advantage headed to singles with a 9-8 (8-6) win from Peter Heidrich and Ari Smolyar over Bowdoin's Chris Lord and Chase Savage.

In singles, the Panthers were victorious in five of six singles matches. The Polar Bears earned their only singles win at #2, where Trinka defeated Campbell 6-3, 6-2. In the top flight, Johnston needed three sets to get by Bragg by scores of 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 while Courtney Mountifield picked up the win at #5 over Wolstencroft by scores of 4-6, 6-3 and 10-6 in the tiebreaker in the two other closest matches.

Bowdoin will look to get back into the win column at home against Bates on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.