Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Fall Season Wrapup

After a successful fall season, the Middlebury Men’s tennis team is close to a month into their off season training.  The ground covered by the team during the fall season was truly impressive.  The coaching staff could not be more thrilled with the hard work, heart and soul put in and the progress shown by each and every member of the team this fall.

The successful fall season for the Panthers was a result of a practice schedule that included early morning workouts, intensive singles and doubles strategy work, technical work, mental training and a great deal of match play.  The members of this year’s team met all of this work with open minds and hearts and a willingness to the work.  That hard work proved crucial during competition throughout the fall.  The results of all the hard work put in by the team was on full display at the Dartmouth Invitational.  Middlebury traveled to New Hampshire to compete against both Dartmouth and conference rival Williams.  On day one of the invitational, Midd walked away with six victories in seven matches, including a solid win by sophomores Brantner Jones and Andrew Lebovitz over Williams’ number one doubles team. 

Another highlight of the fall season was the impressive display of doubles put on at the ultra-competitive Fall ITA Tournament at Williams.  Middlebury had two teams make it to the semifinals of the tournament.  Sophomores Brantner Jones and Andrew Lebovitz entered the tournament seeded one and played some great doubles throughout the tourney before falling to a team from Williams.  Also advancing to the semifinals was the team of junior Alec Parower and senior Derrick Angle.  They also played some great doubles before falling to a pair of Williams players.

Even with all the success experienced by Midd this fall, a great deal of work and improvement is needed for this team to reach it’s ultimate goals.  Playing in a conference as competitive and deep as the NESCAC is no doubt a great challenge, but one that the members of this year’s team are excited to meet head on.  Moving forward, the coaching staff could not be more excited about getting back to work this spring with practices kicking off February 15th.  A big thanks goes out to all the alums, friends and family of Middlebury tennis that have shown such incredible support to the program.  We hope to see you all this spring and go Midd!

Sincerely,

Coach Hansen and Coach Kent