Another weekend goes by with some incredible competing by
the Panther squad. On Saturday, we lost a 4-5 decision to Williams, but bounced
back on Sunday with a 6-3 victory over Tufts. Both matches displayed a lot of
heart from our group and served as two more competitions that will hone our competitive
fire moving forward.
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| Cheering on the boys! |
The Williams match started off with three tightly contested
doubles matches, but unfortunately Williams played better than we did toward
the end of each proset giving them a 3-0 lead and all the momentum heading into
singles play. Starting in a big hole, the Panthers definitely made a match of
it. Will de Quant put us on the board with an incredibly tight and solid performance
winning by a score of 6-2, 6-3. In his first singles match back post injury,
Noah Farrell put on a gutsy display of competitiveness and battled back after losing
a first set 6-0, to win the second and third sets both 6-3. His warrior
mentality served as an exemplary form of competitiveness that is at the core of
our Middlebury Tennis culture. Both Lubomir Cuba and Kyle Schlanger lost
incredibly close three-set matches. Two more highlights for the Panthers came
at the #5 and #6 singles positions where Andre Xiao won in straight sets and
Timo van der Geest won in a third-set match tiebreak displaying the depth of
our singles prowess! Thank you to Williams for a fun and challenging match and
we certainly want to give them credit for playing and competing so well. We
look forward to hopefully seeing them again at NESCACs.
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| The seniors and their coaches! Enjoying every minute! |
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| Loading the vans after another amazing stay at the Brachs! THANK YOU! |
Of course, losing a match 4-5 against a tough opponent is
incredibly disappointing especially after pouring our hearts into the battle.
However, the Panthers displayed their toughness by bouncing back to beat a
feisty Tufts team on their home surface. Starting off with improved doubles
play, the Panthers took a 2-1 lead into singles behind victories from
Cuba/Schalnger (8-6) at #1 doubles and de Quant/Farrell (8-1) at #2
doubles. In singles, Lubomir Cuba and
Kyle Schlanger both notched straight set victories. As Farrell and de Quant dropped straight set
matches, Middlebury had a 4-3 match lead with #5 and #6 singles just getting
started. Nate Eazor and Andre Xiao, two freshmen who seem to be rapidly
developing before our eyes, displayed some awesome toughness and passion both
winning three-set matches and clinching a 6-3 decision for Middlebury.
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| Coach Bob Hansen guiding Andre Xiao to victory! |
An additional shout out goes to two very special alumni who
came out to support us at the Tufts match in Kevin Bergesen ‘07 and Derrick
Angle ’12. Both players had incredible playing careers at Middlebury and it was
a special treat to have them watching on Sunday!
Our fun fact for today’s blog post is about Mr. Bergesen,
aka Bergy during his playing days. One of the most clutch players in Middlebury
Tennis history, Kevin Bergesen was undefeated at the NCAA tournament throughout
his collegiate career in both singles and doubles. What a beast!
We are look forward to pounding the pavement this week preparing
for three though matches this weekend.
Weekend
Schedule:
4/14 2pm Bowdoin
College Middlebury,
VT
4/15 10am Colby-Sawyer Middlebury, VT
4/15 230pm Skidmore Middlebury, VT
As always, we want to thank you
for your support of Middlebury Tennis!
Go
Midd!
The
Middlebury Men’s Tennis Coach Staff
Nice effort Team. Good Job table tennis team .
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