Thursday, March 21, 2013

Gearing Up for Spring Break


Dear Midd Panther Tennis Family and Friends,

We are leaving later today for our Spring Break Trip filled with excitement, motivation and drive.  While the academic workload has been crushing leading up to this trip, our men seem up to the challenge and excited about the many challenges we will face on our trip.  Because of our depth and wanting to test ourselves deeply early in the season we have a brutal schedule of 10 matches in six days!  Many will call it unwise but Adam and I have a great deal of confidence in our courage, strength and conviction and are eager to put our character to the test.

New NCAA Championship Banners at Nelson Indoor Courts
We had a couple of last minute changes to the schedule as we replaced our scheduled match with Biola University with Ventura Community College.  This will actually be a far better match as Ventura is one of the top Junior Colleges in the state and has a number of foreign players in addition to top American juniors.  The match is scheduled for 2:00pm on the Ventura campus.  The other change is our match with Pacific University on March 25th has been move to noon on the Pomona Pitzer courts. 

We are all very excited about the new banner project here on our home indoor courts in the Nelson Arena.   Thanks to all of your for your amazing support of Panther Tennis as we continue to do everything possible to enhance the experience of our amazing student athletes!

Hope you are able to follow our progress on the web or via twitter as we move through this challenging schedule!

Very best wishes, Coaches Hansen and Kent and the men of Panther Tennis

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Opening Weekend Wrapup


Senior Captain Spencer Lunghino

The Middlebury Men’s Tennis Team got their 2013 Spring Season off on the right foot this past weekend. With three matches in two days, the Panthers stayed busy on Saturday and Sunday en route to a 3-0 start to the season. The weekend’s play was highlighted by a Sunday afternoon 7-2 victory over Bates College, who came into the weekend ranked number twelve in the nation.

Every member of this year’s squad was able to play a match this weekend, and all recorded a Panther victory!   Saturday afternoon the Panthers squared off against both SUNY – Oneonta and Brandeis. Middlebury utilized their deep roster against SUNY – Oneonta, playing members of the team not currently in the top six rotation in route to a 9-0 victory. Later that afternoon, the top players squared off against Brandeis, notching an 8-1 victory. The weekend’s action was capped off with a Sunday afternoon 7-2 win over Bates College. After losing at number one doubles, Midd took five of the six singles matches on their way to the victory.

Adam and I were very pleased with the way we competed from top to bottom as we consistently brought strong energy and focus.  We were able to learn a great deal about our strengths as well as areas that still need attention.

With a weekend off from competition, the Panthers are looking to move their training forward with a full week of practice and a possible intersquad match this weekend. The team will fly to California for our annual spring trip departing on March 22. With ten matches in six days, the trip should be a great test for the Panthers. The schedule over spring break is not only high volume, but also includes of a number of highly nationally ranked teams.

Thanks to all the parents, family and fans that were able to join us for our opening weekend.  It was a pleasure to see you and share some great Panther tennis as we opened our season.