Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Jack Kirby (Fy.) finished runner-up in the "C" singles flight championship and teamed with Will Marshall to win "B" doubles to highlight a strong season-opening weekend for the Bates College men's tennis team at the Middlebury Invitational.

Bates competed in three singles and two doubles flights against players from host Middlebury, Hamilton, and Skidmore, with three Bobcats advancing to at least the semifinals of their respective singles draws.

Kirby, the No. 3 seed in the "C" flight, received an opening-round bye before advancing to the semifinals by walkover. There, he defeated teammate Markus Andersson (Fy.) 6-3, 6-4 to earn a spot in the championship match. Kirby won the opening set against Hamilton's Charlie Sternberg (Sr.), falling in the second set before losing in the match tiebreak for a 7-5, 4-6, 7-10 runner-up finish.

Andersson put together a strong run of his own to reach the "C" semifinals. He defeated Skidmore's Bruce Lunder (So.) 6-3, 6-0 before knocking off second-seeded Ignatio Tran (Sr.) of Hamilton 6-1, 7-5. 

Kirby and Marshall continued their success together in the "B" doubles flight. After receiving a bye, the Bates duo edged second-seeded Tran and Sternberg of Hamilton 8-7 (2), then won another tiebreak against Middlebury's Justin Zhou (So.) and Henry Groves (Fy.), 8-7 (2), to advance to the championship match against Skidmore's Fletcher King (Sr.) and Mahen Bitkuri (So.). The Bobcats prevailed in the championship match to take home some hardware from Middlebury.

Bates also had a semifinalist in the "B" singles flight, as top-seeded Sean Park (Fy.) received an opening-round bye before defeating Hamilton's Akshat Dhull (So.) 6-3, 6-0. Park fell 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals to Middlebury's Hayden Williams (Fy.).

Park teamed with Owen Kizer (Fy.) for another strong performance in "B" doubles. The pair received a bye before knocking off top-seeded Eiji Fujita (Fy.) and Nikky Kondamuri (Sr.) of Middlebury 8-5 to reach the semifinals, where they fell to King and Bitkuri 8-4.

In the "A" singles flight, Josh Maller (So.) opened with a 6-3, 2-6, 10-6 victory over Hamilton's Shabad Singh (Fy.) to advance to the quarterfinals. Maller then fell 6-2, 6-3 to top-seeded Thehan Wijemanne (Sr.) of Middlebury.

The Bobcats will return to Middlebury for its next competition as the Panthers host the ITA Regional Championships, Sept. 25-27.