The ITA Regional and Farnsworth Invitational are in the Books, MIT up next!

The fall season is absolutely flying by and the Panthers seem to be gradually playing better and better tennis as our season moves forward. We know that hard work and enjoying the journey is the best path for us to get where we want to go this year. Since our last blog post, we have competed in both the ITA Regional Tournament that we hosted on our home courts as well as the Farnsworth Invitation hosted at Princeton.  There were many strong performances that deserve mention and we will attempt to present a series of highlights for both tournaments. Overall, the ITA Regional demonstrated the depth of this year’s Panther squad as we had 5 players reach the round of 16 and 3 players make the quarterfinals, more than any other school in a region stacked with talent. At the Farnsworth Invitational, the Panthers demonstrated that DIII tennis does not take a back seat to DI and were proud to be the only DIII program represented.

Highlights from the ITA Regional

·      Noah Farrell and Peter Martin played some spectacular doubles en route to the finals winning matches by scores of 8-0, 8-0, 8-4, and 8-5.

·      Timo van der Geest and Kyle Schlanger reached the quarterfinals of doubles building on their momentum from the Middlebury Invitational.

·      Lubomir Cuba reached the semifinals after winning 6-2, 6-0 over the #1 singles player from Bowdoin.

·      Alex Vanezis, Noah Farrell, Kyle Schlanger, William de Quant, and Lubomir Cuba all made the round of 16 demonstrating a deep Panthers team.

Noah Farrell building his doubles resume at the ITA! 

Peter Martin, a doubles specialist last year, playing some great
doubles at the ITA and some great singles at the Farnsworth!

 

Highlights from the Farnsworth Invitational

·      In A flight singles, Will de Quant beat three DI opponents from Drexel, Temple, and Hofstra.
·      In A flight singles, Kyle Schlanger beat a DI opponent from Bryant.
·      In A flight doubles, Schlanger/Van der Geest got a win over Lehigh and de Quant/Xiao got a win over Marist.
·      In B flight doubles, Eazor/Vanezis got wins over a St. Johns team and a team from Fairleigh Dickinson.
·      In B flight singles, Xiao tallied wins over players from Fairleigh Dickinson and Lehigh and would have played his own teammate Timo Van der Geest who beat two players from Marist on his way to the consolation final.
·      In C flight doubles, Guo/Gregory beat a team from University of Virginia.
·      In C flight singles, Peter Martin got three straight wins over Lehigh, Drexel, and Colombia before losing in the semifinals. Nate Eazor also made a nice run over NJIT and St. Johns before losing in a close battle in the quarterfinals. Weston Brach got a win over a player from Fairleigh Dickinson.
·      In D flight singles, Guo beat players from Fairleigh Dickinson and Marist before losing in the quarters. Thorne Gregory beat a player from Lehigh.

The Farnsworth Invitational at Princeton was a special opportunity as Middlebury was the only Division III team being represented. Playing against opponents from schools such as Colombia, Princeton, and Virginia was a perfect yardstick for the Panthers to test their games and to learn what we need to do to improve to get where we want to go as a team.  Coach Hansen and I had a blast coaching our group and their is a special feeling of motivation to dream big on our team this year.  We cannot wait to get back to competing again next week at MIT.

Thanks for reading. Also, a special shout out to all the parents (i.e., Gregorys, Samets, and de Quants, Farrells, Cubas, Eazors, Brachs) who came to support the Panthers over the past two tournaments including bringing an incredible amount of snacks for the players. 

Nate Eazor enjoying the Midd parents supplied
snacks before putting a beat down on some DI
players!

Stay tuned for more updates after the MIT Invitational this coming weekend!

Go Midd!

The Middlebury Men’s Tennis Coach Staff