Panthers (9-2) Building Momentum During Conference Play

During the past two weeks post spring break, the Panthers have continued to demonstrate strong efforts and earned three key wins over conference opponents and all of them coming on the road! As a group, we are finding our identity as a team more and more. We are gritty and resilient, and have proven we that can attack from all parts of our lineup. As we get deeper and deeper into our spring season, we continue to make consistent and incremental improvements in our doubles and singles play. Staying hungry to to see how good we can become will be key to giving us the best chance at achieving our biggest aspirations. 

Andrew Mueller pumped up! He sets the tone for passion in our group!

Highlights from Wesleyan Match (Midd wins 8-1)

Transitioning back to the northeast from our trip in SoCal, we sought to build on our momentum as a team. We came out firing in doubles play against Wesleyan and were able to sweep all three doubles positions. We took charge by playing a solid mix of smart and aggressive tennis. Laber/Harris and Epstein/Hilty both won decisive 8-2 victories at the #2 and #3 doubles positions, and then Morris/Vilys came in clutch for an 8-6 win at the #1 doubles position to complete the sweep. In singles, play we did not look back! Yuan (#5 singles) and Mairs (#6 singles) each won in straight sets. After dropping their first sets, both Morris (#1 singles) and Harris (#2 singles) battled back and won compelling matches over strong opponents. Epstein (#4 singles) secured another point for the Panthers via a match tiebreaker in lieu of a third set. Click here for more details about the match results.

No better group to huddle up with!

Highlights from Amherst Match (Midd wins 6-3)

Playing an away match against Amherst provided another tough test for our Panthers. Knowing that in close matches doubles often sets the tone, the Panthers again dug in and demonstrated our continued rise on the doubles side of the ball. We came away with two hard fought victories with Morris/Vilys (#1 doubles) securing another 8-6 win and Epstein/Hilty (#3 doubles) winning 8-5 to provide us a crucial lead heading into singles play. With some impressive tennis at the top slot, Morris (#1 singles) posted a straight set win to push our team lead to 3-1. Amherst battled back and briefly tied the match at 3-3, but then the Panthers hit their stride and ran towards winning the final three singles matches. Yuan (#6 singles) won 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. To clinch the win, Laber (#3 singles) went out in the second wave of matches and won a 6-2, 6-1 match. In the final win of the day, Hilty (#5 singles) also won a straight set victory in the second wave 6-1, 7-5. For a full breakdown of the match, click here.

Highlights from Hamilton Match (Midd wins 9-0)

In our third conference match after spring break, we put forth another solid effort from start to finish. We earned a sweep of nine straight matches by staying focused, emphasizing our strengths, and holding ourselves and each other up to our best competitive standards. Many highlights to go around that started with three convincing doubles wins 8-2, 8-3, and 8-2 in the top three doubles positions (#1 Harris/Laber, #2 Epstein/Hilty, and #3 Maris/Vilys). We followed up with six more singles victories in straight sets. The singles victories in order from #1-6 came from Laber, Epstein, Hilty, Yuan, Mairs, and Vilys. It was fun seeing our group supporting each other up and down the courts while enjoying competing and the process of building our games to become stronger and stronger. Our passion and joy for each step in our journey help us to keep it all in perspective! Click here to see full description of the match.

Zihao lined up the ball nicely for this photo!

Upcoming Schedule 

- Saturday April 16th  @ 10am vs Williams (alumni match) 

Check out the link for live steaming and live scoring on our results/schedule page. We will host a gathering for any men's tennis alumni at about 330pm after the match to celebrate our alumni being back on campus and to highlight Bob’s last journey as a part of the Panther coaching staff! 

Go Midd!

The Middlebury Men’s Tennis Coaching Staff