MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - The doubles tandem of Zack Ebenfeld and Dylan Payne advanced to the semifinals and two other duos posted victories for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's tennis team on the first day of the two-day Middlebury Invitational. Action continues on Sunday beginning at 9am.

A senior, Ebenfeld, and Payne, a sophomore, defeated a team from Colby 8-6 in the first round and a tandem from Middlebury 8-2 in the second round to advance to the semifinals of the A Flight Doubles Bracket. They take on a team from Tufts in the semifinals with the winner playing a pair from either Colby or Brandeis.

Other Rensselaer teams to advance through the first round were freshman Abraham Yohannes and sophomore Eddie Wu, who knocked off the top seed in the B Flight Bracket, 8-7 (5), and Yudai Teruyama and Phoenix Tamaoki, who won 8-2. The RPI twosomes lost in the second round 8-5 and 8-5, respectively.

In singles, Tamaoki, Payne and Ebenfeld all won their first round matches. Tamaoki, a freshman, advanced in a walkover before falling in the second round in the D Flight; Payne won 6-4, 6-3 before losing in a walkover in the second round in the C Flight; and Ebenfeld beat an opponent from Brandeis 5-7, 6-3, 10-5 in the D Flight. Ebenfeld lost in the second round.

Two of Rensselaer's first round singles matches losses came in a tiebreak with Teruyama (2-6, 7-5, 10-3) and Yahannes (5-7, 6-2, 10-8) both being defeated in the B Flight.