ITA Regional and Skidmore Invitational Recap

Bam! What an awesome couple of weeks to report on! The Panthers built on our momentum from the Middlebury Invitational by diving into a week of training, followed by two back-to-back tournaments. We seemed to bring our best tennis when it mattered the most, demonstrated the full force and depth of our program, and enjoyed competing against some of the best competition in DIII! In doubles, all four of our teams won their first-round match, three of our doubles teams made the quarterfinals, two made the semis, and one earned the title! We also captured the singles title too! After ITA Regionals, we traveled to Skidmore and had a successful weekend of competition there as well. For the remainder of our fall season, we look forward to avoiding any complacency, and plan to continue to put in work week by week.

Took home some serious hardware at the ITA Regional!

Fall ITA New England Regional Highlights

• Continuing his winning ways, sophomore Julian Wu won 6 straight singles matches to earn the ITA New England Regional singles crown, including beating the #2 ranked player in the nation in the finals.

• Also winning 6 straight matches, the sophomore/freshmen pair of Hugh Hentschel and Thehan Wijemanne captured the ITA New England Regional doubles crown with a 6-2 third set triumph. 

• Our doubles performances were strong across the board, with Epstein/Lewis making a strong run to the quarterfinals and Wu/Mairs making a deep run to the semifinals where they bowed out to teammates Hentschel/Wijemanne.

Solid fist pump from Noah Lewis!

• In singles, we had many solid wins and good performances including an inspired run to the Round of 16 by senior captain Joe Mairs.

Nathan Jackson looking strong!

• With their tournament wins, Julian, Hugh, and Thehan will travel to Rome, GA to compete for a chance at an individual national title! 

• See a full recap of results by clicking here.

Skidmore Invitational Highlights

Love this squad!

• Nikky Kondamuri and Thehan Wijemanne highlighted singles play by making runs to the semifinals of their brackets. 

• In doubles, Nathan Jackson and Max Kim went undefeated in the back draw after being ousted in the first round.

Nikky and Max putting in work!

• Similarly, Joe Mairs and Julian Wu also knocked out strong competition in their back draw doubles matches after being defeated in their first round match.

• Neel Epstein also earned some excellent wins for the Panthers including beating a strong singles opponent and doubles team (with partner Noah Lewis) from Tufts in both of his first round matches.

• See a full recap of results by clicking here.

Upcoming Fall Schedule

Julian, Hugh, and Thehan have all earned All-American status, and will travel to Rome, GA to continue their runs at ITAs and will be competing for a chance at individual national titles.

Date             Time         Event         Location

10/12-16    All Day         ITA Cup         Rome, GA

Go Midd!

Middlebury Invite 2023 Recap

What a way to kick things off! The Middlebury Invite featured six other competitive DIII programs, and the Panthers really came to play. Across the six total flights (4 singles draws and 2 doubles draws), and we had Panthers make a run to the finals in 4 of 6 flights. Additionally indicating our impressive depth was that all nine of our competitors in this event posted a win! We knocked out both the #1 and #2 seed in the A Flight Doubles draw, knocked out the #1 seed in the B Flight singles draw, and won the singles A Flight! Pretty solid showing all around, but certainly still a lot to learn and grow from. Not how we start the year that means the most, but now we have increased clarity and determination to dial in our collective games to keep rising.

Joy always a key theme in our program!

Middlebury Invitational 2023 Highlights

• Julian Wu played eight matches across two days, winning the A Flight Singles Draw and making a run to the finals of the B Flight Doubles Draw partnering with Noah Lewis.

• Noah Lewis and Nathan Jackson both made deep runs in the B Flight Singles, with Noah making it to the semis and Nathan making it to the finals after dispatching the #1-seed in his semifinal win.

• Freshmen Thehan Wijemanne and Nikky Kondamuri both achieved some excellent doubles wins in the back draw brackets pairing with Neel Epstein and Nathan Jackson respectively.

• Joe Mairs made a wonderful run to the C Flight Singles final and took out the top-seeded doubles team in the A Flight pairing with Hugh Hentschel.

Joe Mairs and Hugh Hentschel talking strategy on a changeover!

• Neel Epstein paired with freshmen Thehan Wijemanne to knock out the #2 seeded doubles team in the A flight. 

• Max Kim, Hugh Hentschel, and Neel Epstein also each posted solid singles win in their respective flights.

Thehan gearing up to serve with partner Neel Epstein at the net.

Fun Fact

We have been giving out the same trophies at the Midd Invite for over two decades!

Julian Wu with his trophy picture after conquering the A Singles Flight.

Upcoming Fall Schedule

Date           Time        Event                          Location

9/29-10/1   All Day    ITA Regionals                Brunswick, ME

10/7-8        All Day    Skidmore Invitational    Saratoga Springs, NY

Go Midd!