Former Wilton High standout Noah Farrell won six matches in three days on his way to capturing the singles title at the 2015 USTA/ITA Men’s Tennis Regional Championship, hosted by Williams College last weekend.
A sophomore at Middlebury College, he is the first Panther since 2009 to take the singles crown at the tournament.
Farrell, along with the other winners from each regional, advances to the Small College Championships at the Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, S.C., on Oct. 15-18.
Farrell defeated Luke Tercek of Bowdoin, 7-6 (4), 6-1, in Sunday’s championship match. He trailed 5-2 in the opening set, but battled all the way to force the tiebreaker and eventually record the set and the victory.
All six of Farrell’s triumphs came in straight sets. He had entered the tournament as the third seed.
Last Friday, Farrell opened the tourney by defeating Zain Ali of Tufts, 6-0, 6-0, and Blake Norton of Nichols, 6-0, 6-1. He continued the momentum when he defeated Williams’ Brian Grodecki, 6-4, 6-1, and Jose Raventos, 6-2, 7-6 (5), in the round of 16 and the quarterfinals the following day.
He defeated Steven Chen of Wesleyan, 6-1, 6-3, in the semifinals before posting the come-from-behind victory in Sunday’s final.
Farrell, a 2014 Wilton High grad, was a four-time Class L state champ for the Warriors.
As a freshman last year for Middlebury, he compiled a record of 24-9 and was named New England Small College Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year. He helped the Panthers finish at 22-4 and reach the NCAA championship match, before falling to top-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripp.
So far this season, Farrell’s record is 10-0. He began the season by winning the A Flight at the Middlebury Men’s Tennis Invitational, beating Brian Granoff of Brandeis in the championship match, 6-0, 6-3, on Sept. 20.