It was an exciting weekend for the Middlebury
Panthers, and our play took another positive step. Over the weekend we secured
three victories, including an 8-1 win versus Bowdoin (ranked #2 nationally), a
9-0 win versus Colby-Sawyer, and an 8-1 win over Skidmore (ranked #26
nationally). With many incredible highlights from the weekend, one overall
point that the coaching staff was particularly excited about was going 9-0 in
our doubles matches, getting back to our early-season mode where doubles is one
of our strongest features.
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| Getting fired up pre match versus Bowdoin. |
Weekend Highlights
Holding down the top of the Panther doubles lineup, Lubomir
Cuba and Kyle Schlanger beat the #1 and #2 ranked doubles teams in the
Northeast. Behind great serving and gritty competitiveness, they demonstrated
that they are as good as anybody when they are playing well. On
the singles court, Cuba notched victories over the #2 and #10 ranked
players in the Northeast. Similarly, Schlanger also posted two singles
victories and secured the clinching point against Bowdoin!
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| Cuba '19 and Eazor '21 cheering on their teammates! |
Perhaps the crowd favorite, our #2 doubles team of Noah
Farrell and Will de Quant played some great ball and definitely exhibited some
of the best on court celebrations a DIII tennis court has ever seen. When Noah turned
toward the incredibly supportive crowd, the sheer volume of the fans gave our
entire team a strong feeling of momentum on court. Going 3-0 in doubles over the weekend, these
two are a scary proposition for any opposing #2 doubles squad they come up
against. Both Farrell and de Quant posted strong victories in singles against
Bowdoin, and de Quant also won his match versus Skidmore to complete a solid weekend of work.
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| Schlanger '18 and de Quant '18 supporting each other on court! |
At #3 doubles, Timo van der Geest and Peter Martin showed
off some impressive court positioning and doubles tactics in going 3-0 on the
weekend. These two saved some of their best tennis toward the end of some
high-level prosets and both were hawks at the net finishing a ton of points by
knocking off strong volleys. These two have a great history together and seem
to be really finding their stride as we march forward through our season. Against
Colby-Sawyer, van der Geest remained undefeated as a #1 singles player for the
Panthers. What a beast!
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| Martin '19 partnered incredibly well with van der Geest '18 (not pictured) for some seriously strong doubles this weekend |
Rounding out the bottom of our singles lineup, Andre Xiao
and Nate Eazor again proved they have experience beyond their years. Both won
matches against gritty Skidmore opponents, and Xiao demonstrated a rock-solid
performance against Bowdoin winning in straight sets.
Demonstrating the immense depth of the Panther roster, Weston
Brach and Aleks Samets won 8-0 versus Colby-Sawyer at #3 doubles. In singles, Alex
Vanezis, Adam Guo, Weston Brach, Cole Sutton, and Thorne Gregory all won
straight set matches at #2-#6 singles respectively. Their continued development
and progress again points toward a bright Panther future for years to come.
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| Gregory '21 moving through a forehand ready to charge the net! |
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| Brach '20 getting some love from the Midd coaching staff! |
See the full match recaps at the links below...
Saturday: http://athletics.middlebury.edu/sports/mten/2017-18/releases/20180414rbuyiw
Sunday: http://athletics.middlebury.edu/sports/mten/2017-18/releases/20180415vwlktw
Senior Celebration
This weekend also marked our senior celebration where both
the men’s and women’s tennis teams, parents, siblings, friends, and of course
coaches too all got together to celebrate the illustrious careers of senior captains Will de
Quant, Kyle Schlanger, and Timo van der Geest. It was a successful event and
was a pleasure to shower these three with some more than well-deserved love and
praise!
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| Proud coaches alongside Schlanger '18, de Quant '18, and van der Geest '18! |
Most importantly, the coaching staff wants to extend and a
huge expression of gratitude for all the parents who traveled from distant
places to make this event truly special for our seniors.
Up next is another beastly weekend where we face off against
three very tough opponents who have all been playing some great tennis leading
into the weekend including nationally top-ranked Emory, Trinity (CT), and Wesleyan.
Date Time Opponent Location
4/21 9am Trinity
(CT) Hartford,
CT
4/21 330pm Emory Hartford,
CT
4/22 1pm Wesleyan Middletown, CT
Go
Midd!
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