MIDDLEBURY, Vt.—The Skidmore College women's tennis team needed to venture outside its Liberty League schedule and found itself in a national tournament level match in a 5-4 loss to Middlebury College Sunday afternoon.
 
The Thoroughbreds are 4-1, while the Panthers are 4-2.
 
The Skidmore doubles team of Risa Fukushige and Maya Lal pulled out an exciting 8-7 (7-4) win at number one doubles to give the Thoroughbreds a 2-1 advantage going into singles.
 
Fukushige battled to a 6-1, 3-6, 10-3 win at number one singles over Amy Delman. Lily Feldman was a 6-0, 6-2 winner at number three singles.
 
"We played with a lot of confidence today, which was great to see," said Skidmore coach Curt Speerschneider. "Every match was battle and they just inched us out to the finish.  Despite the loss we came away with a lot though, which is very important in a shortened season like this.  We really rose to the challenge playing one of the perennial top 10 teams in the country.  This was a positive step forward for sure." 

Skidmore will close out the regular season at home May 1 against Vassar.