MANCHESTER, CT. – A five-season NESCAC title streak came to an end on Sunday morning for the Wesleyan women's tennis team. The five-time NESCAC Champions were bested by top-seeded Middlebury College as they made their sixth-straight appearance in the NESCAC Final, turning over the conference crown in a 4-1 heartbreaker from the Magic Lincer Tennis Club.

Championed by first-year head coach Olivia Leavitt, the Panthers won the program's first NESCAC title after earning the top seed with a perfect 10-0 record.

Dropping just three matches this season, the 18-3 Cardinals entered the NESCAC Championship knowing the probability of the conference title match being a re-hashing of the April 26 matchup was high.

Tilting the match early in the Panthers' favor, doubles play quickly turned to a heavy-handed commanding of pace. After Sarah Youngberg '26 and Lane Durkin '27 jumped to an early one-point lead as the No. 1 pair, Nina Farhat and Sahana Raman ran six in a row to take the first of two doubles wins, 6-1. Tying the No. 2 match up twice, Jackie Soloveychik '27and Natalia Leroy '28 could not quite catch Claudia Miller and Elsie Van Wieren after the Panthers led by three as the match neared its end, 6-3, garnering the match lead. Alex Burnett '27 and Renna Mohsen-Breen '25 pulled within one of Nathalie van derReis and Lulu Wu, but with the point clinched the match was rendered unfinished.

The Panthers took a two-point lead as singles play began, earning a win over Soloveychik at No. 1, but it was Durkin that crept up to cut the lead with her 21^st victory of the season. Undefeated at No. 2, Durkin flipped the script on Van Wieren and ran two straight points to snag set one. Durkin leveled her lead and strolled to a 6-4, 6-4 final score to put the Cardinals on board.

Defeating Macie Carlos '27 at No. 5, the Panthers kept the Cardinals at arm's length, but the remaining three matches all were forced to a tiebreaking third set.  Leroy at No. 4 and Lucinda Gatsiounis '28 at No. 6 both led after set one, each being forced to the tiebreak after Wu and Farhat won set two. Farhat's final 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 tally over Gatsiounis was the match point for the Panthers, clinching the championship from the Cardinals for the first time.

While left unfinished as the fourth point was secured, Youngberg's performance at No. 3 was nothing short of a hard-fought comeback. Down one after set one to Miller, Youngberg rallied to a 4-4 and flipped the set on Miller, forcing set three. Catching Miller at two points, Youngberg again flipped the match and climbed to a 5-3 lead, sitting within reach of just one more point.

The Cardinals await their fate in the NCAA Tournament. The 2025 tournament selection show will air Monday, May 5, on the NCAA website at 12 p.m.