The Panthers finished the last of our four Fall tournaments
with many strong performances and the coaching staff was extremely pleased to
see that the Panthers played their best tennis all Fall. Even though we still
have many levels of improvement ahead, we are definitely heading in the right
direction as a group.
A follow-up to last year’s MIT tournament, the TuftsDeis
invitational demonstrated an amazingly high level of competition with eight top
tier DIII programs competing. The
Panthers collected two of the four possible titles!
 |
| A Flight Champion Noah Farrell '19 |
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| Farrell '19 serving big! |
Noah Farrell led the way grabbing the A flight singles crown
with five consecutive wins over elite DIII players including a straight set
victory over Sean Wei (ranked #9 in the nation after last season). Noah's competitive spirit and ability to switch and use his left hand when on the dead run makes watching his play particularly special and exciting. Winning the
B flight doubles crown was Aleks Samets and Andre Xiao. The pair partnered
extremely well with Andre tracking from the back and Aleks cleaning up at net,
each only having their serve broken once all tournament long en route to their
title.
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| B Flight Doubles Champs Andre Xiao '21 and Aleks Samets '20 |
The rest of the Panthers also put in some great work
including….
·
Stan Morris winning a match versus Austin Barr
(ranked #30 nationally).
·
Nate Eazor and Stan Morris got their first win
as a doubles pair.
·
Andre Xiao picked up two singles victories over
MIT and Bowdoin.
·
Weston Brach picked up two singles wins over Tufts
and Brandeis.
·
Weston Brach and David Vilys got a doubles win
over Bowdoin.
·
Adam Guo picked up two singles wins over Tufts
and Wesleyan.
·
David Vilys picked up two singles wins over Wesleyan
and Brandeis.
 |
| Eazor '21, Sutton '19, Samets '20, and Guo '21 fueling up! |
A complete description of the tournament can be seen here: http://athletics.middlebury.edu/sports/mten/2018-19/releases/20181014sys4em
Ring Ceremony
Last weekend we also had a final celebration for our 2018
NCAA Championship with our ring ceremony and reception. Made incredibly special
by the return of our three recent graduates (two traveling all the way back from
Europe), Will de Quant, Kyle Schlanger, and Timo van der Geest were back in the
house! It was an incredibly special event to share memories and reminisce over
such a fun and successful year. The lifelong bonds that were formed last year were
evident, and the uniquely close camaraderie of the Panther program continues to
be a hallmark of our culture.
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| Beautiful weather for our ceremony at the homecoming football game. Midd won by 1 point over Bates! |
Another critical component of our success that was again on
display was the wonderful and amazing support of our parents both near and far.
Three players had parents who joined our celebration including Weston Brach,
Nate Eazor, and Cole Sutton. Of course, the parents in attendance helped to document
videos and pictures they distributed via our parent group chat so that everyone
could feel the love and fun from wherever they were! As always, huge thank you
to our incredibly supportive group of parents!
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| The jewelry! |
Off-Season Training
The off-season will be a critical time period where we need to
get fully healthy and also continue to build our games and hearts to be fully
prepared for the challenges that lie ahead. We look forward to handing the responsibility
of off-season training to our four senior captains. Noah Farrell, Peter Martin,
Cole Sutton, and Lubomir Cuba will play a huge role in ensuring that each and
every Panther player is doing everything they can to get ready for the Spring. Championships
are won in the off-season! From on court, in the gym, on the track, and mental
training the Panthers will continue to work each aspect of the game to try to
give our group the best chance of being successful when it matters most toward
the end of the year.
Wishing everyone in the
Middlebury Tennis Family a wonderful rest of the Fall!
