Stellar End to Fall 2022 Season

Your Panthers wrapped up the Fall season in a big way posting a lot of impressive results across our final two fall tournaments. We recap those results below, but first begin by expressing our sincerest gratitude.

Zihao going all out on this backhand volley! He and the Panthers have had a wonderful fall season.

Thank You for Your Support in Our Panther Challenge

There is no other way to properly begin this blog post than to thank so many who supported us during our Proud to Be a Panther Challenge fundraiser. We had wonderful participation and all contributions will go directly toward supporting our student-athletes tennis experience. There are so many variables that contribute to making a four-year college tennis career special, and we would not be the program we are today without the DNA of our Middlebury Tennis traditions from the players and coaches who came before us, as well as the ongoing support we are so lucky to receive from alumni, family, and friends! From donations, to bringing snacks and lunches at tournaments, off-court mentorship, and more we are beyond fortunate for all that is done to support us! Huge shout out to everyone in our Midd Tennis Family!

Our program relies on teamwork all on levels both on and off the court!

Wesleyan Invitational

The Panthers continued their rise through the fall and came out swinging across the board at the Wesleyan Invitational. There were two draws of 24 players, A and B flights, filled with talented players from four other strong DIII programs and one DI program. Taking matches one step at a time, the Panthers imposed their will on the tournament. We began the tournament flawlessly going 3-0 in the round of 32 (with 3 byes for our other competitors) and then finished with a punctuation mark of winning both the A and B singles flights.

Nathan Jackson served up some special tennis
en route to winning the B Flight Singles Draw

Major highlights included: 

• Robby Ward won two main draw matches in the A singles draw making his run to the quarterfinals, and then added a back draw win on Sunday. 
• Zihao Yuan winning three main draw matches in the A singles draw, including taking out the #1 seed on his run to the semifinal.
• B Flight champion, Nathan Jackson winning 5 straight singles matches to capture the B flight crown finding his way through a competitive draw.
• A Flight champion, Julian Wu winning 4 straight singles matches to capture the A flight crown, earning several stellar victories of top opponents including besting the #2 seed.
• A full recap of results can be found here.

Dartmouth Invitational

The Panthers ended our fall season on an impressively high note with some stellar results at the Dartmouth Invitational. The tournament consisted of players from two DIII teams (Middlebury and Williams) and four DI programs (Brown, Dartmouth, Boston University, and Yale). The level of competition was very strong, but the Panthers came in determined and ready to demonstrate the prowess of DIII tennis. Matchplay consisted of compass draw style play where each of our players competed in three singles and three doubles matches across the weekend. Aggregating results for the five players we had competing, we went 11-4 in singles play and 4-3 in doubles play. 

Julian Wu has been a force this fall going 7-0 in his last 7 singles matches.

Highlights included:

• Julian Wu won all 3 of his singles matches (vs Williams, BU, and Dartmouth).
• Robby Ward won all 3 of his singles matches (vs Williams, BU, and Williams).
• Neel Epstein winning 3 straight singles matches (vs Williams, Dartmouth, and Yale).
• Zihao Yuan posted an impressive three-set victory in singles vs BU.
• Nathan Jackson posted an impressive three-set victory in singles vs Williams.
• Yuan/Wu posted a 2-1 winning record in doubles including a win over a top Williams pair.
• Ward/Epstein posted an impressive doubles win over Brown University.
• Full recap of results can be seen here.

Neel Epstein, one of three of our Panthers who captured victory
in all 3 of his singles matches over the Dartmouth Invite!

Upcoming Schedule

Please stay tuned for our finalized spring dual match schedule as well as our senior and alumni weekend! 

Go Midd!

Midd Invite/ITA Recap and the Proud to Be A Panther Challenge 2022

It is always hard to believe how quickly we move through our fall tennis season. As the saying goes, time flies when you are having fun... and we certainly squeeze every ounce of joy out of fall! The Vermont leaves are coloring up, and it is a beautiful time of year for us to train and compete! Our young and hungry group has demonstrated week-by-week improvement, and we love the feeling of getting better and seeing where our hard work can take us. In the end, challenging ourselves and not setting limits is exactly what we are after as a program.

In this issue of our blog we:

1. Recap our first two fall tournaments.
2. Highlight the Proud to Be A Panther Fundraising Challenge
3. List our remaining Fall Schedule (2 more tournaments)

Middlebury Invitational 2022

Julian Wu locked in and ready to fire a forehand!

The Middlebury Invite has become a longstanding tradition at the beginning of our fall season and is a great way to test ourselves and learn about where we are and what we need the most work on. This year was no different. We brought in some of the best teams in DIII tennis with multiple All-American players and top programs traveling to Middlebury for an action-packed weekend. Highlights included a brilliant semifinal run by freshman upstart Julian Wu and all players earning at least one win in singles or doubles through the weekend, a great indication of our depth as a program. We also recognized that we ended up on the wrong end of some tightly contested matches, which gave us the immediate feedback we needed to attack our training with more intention and vigor. A full recap can be found by clicking here. 

ITA New England Regional

Robby Ward and Neel Epstein charging forward!

After the Middlebury Invitational, the Panthers were motivated to make more runs in the singles and doubles draw as a team at one of the most competitive regional tournaments in the nation. We traveled up to Brunswick, ME to compete and demonstrated some very impressive progress. There were numerous highlights that are worth noting. All three of our doubles pairings at least won first round matches. Andrew Mueller and Nathan Jackson earned a spot in the Round of 32 before falling to the eventual champions. Julian Wu and Zihao Yuan won three straight doubles matches including a win over a team they had lost to a week earlier before bowing out in the quarterfinal round. Finally, Robby Ward and Neel Epstein ripped their way to the semifinals with multiple impressive wins before losing a very hard-fought match that was one round before qualifying for the national ITA Oracle Cup. While always disappointing not to have punched all the way through, all of our doubles teams played a more attacking style and demonstrated a jump in level from just a week earlier!

Neel using his height to crack a big serve!

In singles play, freshmen Nathan Jackson pushed a seeded player to the brink losing in three sets. Andrew Mueller avenged a loss to an opponent from the week before (somewhat of a theme at the ITA for us!). Robby Ward won an impressive first round match over a tough opponent before losing a war of a match in the Round of 32. Zihao Yuan also posted a first round win before losing to a seeded opponent in the Round of 32. Making his run in doubles to the semifinals even more impressive, Neel Epstein also battled in singles and demonstrated he is going to be a force to be reckoned with this year. He won three straight matches, all over worthy and challenging opponents, to make an impressive quarterfinal run. As a team, it was great to see progress and the best part of our successes is that it allowed our group to get more matches and competition. We look forward to continuing to take every opportunity to challenge ourselves and to keep at it. After all, we will need to push even further if we want to take a full swing at achieving our biggest goals on the national stages.

A full recap can be found by clicking here. 

Proud to Be a Panther Challenge

We would like to invite you to participate in the Proud to Be A Panther Challenge. The Challenge runs from October 12-20 and we would love your support! 

Our goal for Middlebury Men’s Tennis is to raise about $50,000 this year. We have been humbled by past generosity that has allowed us to provide the best possible training and competitive environments, maximizing the 4-year student-athlete experience. Specifically, donations are used toward expenses including: 

• Spring break travel (i.e., flights, hotels, rentals).
• Equipment expenses.
• Live streaming on all 4 indoor courts and 6 outdoor courts for all home matches.
• National event travel.
• Experts: Bringing in guest coaches or sports psychologists to supplement our training

To make your gift, please visit our Proud to Be A Panther Challenge homepage. You can designate your gift to “Varsity Sports: Tennis Program - Men’s” and gifts of any size are hugely appreciated.

Thank you for your support of the Middlebury Men’s Tennis program and our student athletes. With your help, we’ll continue to fuel their success in the classroom, on the court, and in the community.

Upcoming Fall Schedule

We travel to Wesleyan and then Dartmouth on back-to-back weekends to wrap up our fall journey!

• Oct 15-16: Wesleyan Invitational in Middletown, CT
• Oct 21-23: Dartmouth Invitational in Hanover, NH

Andrew Mueller battling on our home courts!

Go Midd!