Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Panthers Remain Undefeated as We Head into Spring Break (5-0)

It was a fun-filled weekend for the Panthers as we competed in three matches over the course of two days. On our way toward playing our doubleheader in Boston on Saturday, we took out Colby College on the Dartmouth College tennis courts by a score of 9-0. Following our strong start, we beat an extremely talented MIT team 6-3 and accelerated our momentum and capping the weekend with a 9-0 win over Brandeis. In reviewing our results as a whole, the coaching staff is particularly pleased with our record in doubles going 15-0 so far in dual matches!

Weston Brach, Bob Hansen, and Aleks Samets enjoying their
stay at the Brachs for our weekend matches in Boston.
Weekend Highlights
Holding down the top of the Panther lineup, Lubomir Cuba went undefeated over the weekend notching three doubles victories with partner Kyle Schlanger and two singles victories over tough competitors from MIT and Brandeis. Along with three doubles wins, Kyle notched three singles wins over the weekend including a straight set victory over an MIT player who was ranked #13 in his class on tennisrecruiting.net to clinch the match (the highest ranked incoming player in the history of DIII tennis, at least since tennisrecruiting.net started their rankings). 

Another win for Lubomir Cuba and Kyle Schlanger.
Not only successful on the scoreboard, our men have
demonstrated excellent sportsmanship this year as well.
The panthers also enjoyed the return of Noah Farrell for our match against MIT, where he posted an impressive 8-0 victory at #2 doubles partnering with Peter Martin. Unfortunately, Noah got injured during his singles match early in the first set and was forced to retire. We look forward to doing everything possible to help Noah return as quickly as possible, and in the meantime, take confidence in the depth and poise of our group to step up as needed. Peter also partnered with Timo Van der Geest for two victories over Colby and MIT. Rounding out our doubles success at the #3 doubles position, Nate Eazor won two matches with Weston Brach and one with Timo. The young Texan is now off to a 10-0 start this season! If the NESCAC conference had a player of the first two weeks, it would be hard pressed to find a better performance out of the gate.

Will de Quant pictured supporting Noah Farrell who was
forced to retire with an injury. Our team is a family first!

The squad.  Notice Nate Eazor eating four pieces of bacon in the
morning, one for each of his wins later that day. Nothing like eggs
and bacon for breakfast to prepare our team for a big day.
We enjoyed many more singles victories and competition not specifically mentioned on this post, see the full match recaps here:

We also want to commend our guys collectively for pouring their hearts into each and every point and keeping a constant eye on what they are doing well and figuring out what areas need to improve as well. The consistent striving toward getting better is a foundational component of our program.

Lubomir Cuba soaking in some knowledge from Bob Hansen.
We again had incredible support from our Middlebury families including the Brachs, Frosts, Gregories, and Schlangers who came out to cheer us on! Thank you, and all Middlebury parents near and far, for all you do for our boys!

Up next is our spring break trip in Southern California!  We have an action-packed and fun-filled schedule.  See our webpage for details (all match times are listed in EST):
    
Go Midd!

The Middlebury Men’s Tennis Coach Staff

Monday, March 12, 2018

Panthers Beat Bates and Babson (2-0)

It was a great opening doubleheader for the Panthers as we defeated Bates 7-2 and Babson 9-0. Making the victories even more impressive, both wins came without two of our strongest competitors Noah Farrell and Will de Quant, who we look forward to hopefully having back with us this coming weekend.

Will de Quant '18 demonstrating his leadership by coaching
 #3 doubles Nate Eazor '21 and Weston Brach '20.

Match Highlights

Collectively, we were 8-0 in doubles and 13-3 in singles. All four of our freshmen recorded their first college victories. Nate Eazor led the way with 4 wins on the day in singles and doubles, including an efficient 6-3, 6-1 victory at the #5 singles position. Thorne Gregory partnered well with Cole Sutton to win 8-5 at #4 doubles versus Babson.  Adam Guo notched three victories on the day, two singles and one doubles, winning 6-0, 6-1 against Babson at line 5. Winning two singles matches, Andre Xiao demonstrated his resilience in his 6-7(1), 6-1, 1-0(3) comeback win against Bates at #6 singles. The coaching staff is incredibly excited to see the early success of our youngest Panther players, but is even more thrilled with their leadership potential. Our team will be in good hands for years to come!

Adam Guo '21 serving, with Aleks Samets '20 ready to pounce.
The Panther veterans also demonstrated their prowess throughout the day.  Lubo Cuba and Kyle Schlanger went 2-0 in doubles and 1-0 in singles, and won a hard fought 9-7 victory over a very talented Bates #1 doubles tandem in Ben Rosen and Jacob Kauppila. Timo Van der Geest and Peter Martin picked up right where they left off last season notching two solid doubles victories with their aggressive and punishing game styles. Timo responded brilliantly after a tough 7-6 in the third loss against Bates at #3 singles by winning 6-0, 6-0 at line 1 against Babson. Weston Brach partnered well with Nate Eazor as they held down the #3 doubles position in both matches with two solid victories.  Weston also went 1-1 in singles on the day. Aleks Samets went 2-0, winning a doubles match line 4 versus Bates and a singles match against Babson at line 8 versus Babson.  Cole Sutton, not only managing the Middlebury Twitter feed during the matches, also paired with Thorne Gregory to defeat Babson at #4 doubles. Alex Vanezis went 1-1 on the day, and like Timo, improved his play rapidly after a tough morning match to play some great tennis against Babson at line 2. 

Kyle Schlanger '18 at #1 doubles getting
ready to rip a return with Lubo Cuba '19.
Weston '20 preparing for an explosive move at the net!
As always, we enjoyed phenomenal support from our Middlebury families including the Brachs (thank you Joanna for supplying the wonderful photos for this blog post!) and Cubas (thank you for all the amazing snacks for the boys!) who came out to cheer us on! 

This coming weekend we hit the road to play Colby (at Dartmouth) on Friday at 5pm. On Saturday, we take on MIT at 10am and Brandeis at 4pm (at the Natick Racquet Club).   

Go Midd!

The Middlebury Men’s Tennis Coach Staff