From One NESCAC Weekend to the Next

Panther Family,

Last weekend the Panthers of Middlebury Men’s Tennis had back-to-back NESCAC matches against #9 Williams College and #19 Tufts University. It was one week after our very successful spring break trip in Texas, little time as we came up against two very tough conference teams.

Our match against Williams started on a very challenging note. I’ll tip my hat to Williams as they came out playing very strong doubles, putting us in an early hole at all three doubles spots. We fought hard to the very end, but Williams was just to good in their effort and before you knew it we were down 0-3 going into singles. It was the first time all season we had been down 0-3 after doubles, not to mention against a top 10 team. Our boy’s response was brilliant, and their singles play was truly something to see. We knew we had to win five of the six singles to win the day’s match, playing on our indoor facility meant starting with 1-4 singles. The first games were close on all courts, but once our boys grabbed the momentum they never looked back. Dominating straight set victories from Lubo, Will, Hamid, and Kyle, put us in the lead 4-3 with Timo and Allen competing to conclude the match. With a 6-0, 6-2, victory Allen clinched the comeback, we were elated! Timo went on to lose in a super tiebreaker to a strong Williams player, even with that the D3 winning streak continued.

The next day against Tufts University was played on our outdoor courts, one more conference test to conclude the weekend. Allen/Timo had a dominating win at #3 doubles, and with a loss in Will/Lubo at #1, we were tied at 1-1. Hamid/Kyle were up a break at #2, 6-3, but as we fell off just a little, the match was back on serve at 6-6. On to an eventual breaker, Kyle/Hamid found themselves down three match points at 3-6. Let’s go with the quote, “where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Hamid and Kyle somehow staged a comeback to take the breaker 9-7. With that we were up 2-1 going into singles, our work still cut out for us as against an always feisty Tufts team. With a 6-1, 6-1, victory Lubo concluded his weekend with overall brilliant singles play. Allen got our forth point in straight sets, while Timo lost his match at #5 singles. Kyle took us to an overall 5-2 victory with a straight set win, continuing his streak of dominance. Will gritted out a great win in three sets, while Hamid did the same in a third set super-tiebreaker. With an overall 7-2 victory it was another strong weekend for the Panthers.

Today we come up against #29 Colby College on their home courts in Waterville, Maine. We will hit the road driving to Brunswick following the match, a rematch of last years National Championship against #3 Bowdoin College to be played Saturday morning at 10am. Special thanks to everyone who made the effort to attend our alumni weekend, and as always major appreciation for the continued support of Middlebury Men’s Tennis. We will keep you posted,

Sincerely,

Middlebury Men’s Coaching Staff