Recap of 2023 NCAAs Final Four Journey

Another year in the books and what a journey it was! The coaches are grateful for the dedication, passion, and beautiful tennis from our players throughout the year. Perhaps most rewarding was seeing how much our collective tennis rose throughout the season, allowing us to be playing as well as any team in the nation when it mattered most! We earned an incredibly hard fought 2023 NESCAC Conference Title and played well enough to position ourselves one point away from earning a trip to the NCAA national title match, ending with a NCAA Final Four run (Middlebury’s 8th consecutive trip to the Final Four) that was something to be incredibly proud about. One of the most beautiful parts about sports is that results are not guaranteed, but even in these cases, our team knows deep down that we played with heart and put our fighting spirit on full display. Knowing this in our core allows our coaching staff to feel incredible about what we accomplished this year, and to feel even more excited about our future ahead as a program. We want to pause for a moment as well to thank Zihao for being an incredible teammate and friend, someone who inspires us all to do better and work harder by his example. We wish him the very best in his post-Middlebury life! Thank you for everything Z! And without further ado, here is a brief recap of our 2023 NCAA run.

Beautiful camaraderie of the 2023 squad!

Thanks for an amazing Midd Tennis career Z!

NCAA Rd of 32: Christopher Newport (Midd won 5-1)

Our first stop was to play Christopher Newport on the road in Baltimore, MD. Knowing that we needed to come our prepared, the match was fun from start to finish as Christopher Newport played hard and required us to bring our best tennis. Behind wins from #2 doubles (Ward/Epstein) and #3 doubles (Wu/Mairs), followed by straight set wins at #1 singles (Laber), #3 singles (Epstein) and #4 singles (Wu) the Panthers took care of business and built on the confidence we earned at NESCACs moving us into the next round! Full box score can be seen here. 

Noah serving it up!

NCAA Rd of 16: Johns Hopkins (Midd won 5-2)

In a rematch from a spring break trip match in CA that we won 5-4, and now playing in Johns Hopkins backyard in Baltimore, MD… the Panthers were more than aware we would be walking into a battle of a matchup! As is typical in college matches, doubles were going to be key especially because Hopkins was particularly strong on the doubles side of the ball. With a loud crowd and fun atmosphere, Hopkins came out strong early and was up a break on all three doubles positions early. Demonstrating incredible resilience and fight, the Panthers dug in, found a way to increase our level and assertiveness, and were able to turn both #1 doubles (Laber/Harris) and #3 doubles (Wu/Mairs) in our favor earning two come from behind tiebreak wins and giving us big time momentum heading into singles. Without any hesitancy, the Panthers singles lineup went to work and found a way to post a solid 5-2 win behind key straight set victories from #3-5 singles (Epstein, Wu, and Ward respectively) with #1 singles (Laber) and #6 singles (Yuan) both in great position in their matches when they were stopped. Most importantly, this critical win earned us the right to fly to Orlando, FL for the Elite Eight! Full box score can be seen here. 

Robby Ward with the volley!

NCAA Quarterfinal: Bowdoin (Midd won 5-4)

Playing for the third time this season and having most recently come away with a 5-4 win over Bowdoin about two weeks prior, we knew the Polar Bears would be gearing up to come after us, but we were excited to take on yet another challenge. In a season where our team had demonstrated the ability to strike from all nine positions, we knew that if we played bravely in the big moments and trusted ourselves and our teammates, we would position ourselves well. In doubles, we did not execute as strongly as we had hoped but did earn a critical point at #2 doubles (Epstein/Ward) via a decisive 8-3 score. Recognizing that going into singles with a deficit was going to be a fight, the Panthers did an amazing job of believing in themselves and playing with joy and heart. Earning straight set wins at #4-6 singles (Wu, Ward, and Yuan respectively), it all came down to #3 singles. After dropping the first set to an opponent he had lost to in the two previous meetings, Neel Epstein rose to the challenge and posted a come-from behind three set win utilizing two massive forehand return winners in the final game to send the Panthers to the Final Four! We knew we did not play perfectly at all nine spots, but stuck together to earn another gutsy win! Full box score can be seen here.

Juju pumped up!

Neel tracking down a backhand!

NCAA Final Four: Case Western (Midd lost 5-4)

Coming in as an underdog, other teams might not have expected us to put on the display of tennis we did as we pushed the eventual champions to the bring of defeat. We believe before the match started that we were capable of beating anyone and proved that we could rise to the occasion in the biggest moment. The joy, passion, and heart we played with this day will continue to inspire our program into the future even though the result did not fall our way. Kicking things off for the Panthers was incredible doubles play. Even though we dropped the proset at #1 doubles, we used spectacular play at #3 doubles (Wu/Mairs) who played one of their most complete matches of the year earning an 8-4 win to even the team score at 1-1. With all eyes on them, #2 doubles (Epstein/Ward) played some big boy tennis really going after their shots and winning points with their offensive play, putting the Panthers ahead 2-1 behind a tiebreak win! Given our strong track record of singles play all year long, it was game on! As singles got underway, the Panthers continued to come out firing. Unfortunately, we were hit with some really tough adversity in this match with our top singles spot (#1 Laber) limping his way to the finish line after sustaining a brutal knee injury. Neel Epstein (#3 singles) played one of his most electric matches of the year building on his clinch the day before and won his match 6-0, 6-1. Robby Ward (#5 singles) then put the Panthers within a single match of the finals earning a hard fought 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win! Julian Wu (#4 singles) put on an amazing display of tennis in his second set battling to the bitter end and came up just shy of pushing his match to a third set. Things eventually all came down to #2 singles (Aidan Harris). Playing some of the most brave tennis, battling through cramps in 90-degree and high humid FL weather (both players started cramping at different points in the third set), we ended up coming out on the short end of the stick in a 7-6 in the third match. Having our captain Aidan Harris battling for the boys from start to finish in the last match was a great moment, and the sting of defeat will only serve to build our fortitude about how we approach our off-season and next year. We played with no regrets in the big moments at NCAAs, and will use everything we learned along the way to come back even stronger next year! Full box score can be seen here.

Great photo of Neel and Robby!

Another one!

Aidan bringing the fire!

Thank You

It is difficult to put into words how many people helped us achieve everything we accomplished this year and to create such a wonderful student-athlete experience in our program. From the Panther parents who support our boys from near and far, to our Midd Athletic Training staff especially Dave and Trevor, our Athletic Director Erin Quinn, special guest Midd Field Hockey Coach Katharine DeLorenzo who spoke to our team about how to approach our postseason run, our Midd Athletic Communications team of Ali, Dain, and Cal, our Panther Tennis Alumni, and everyone else in our Middlebury Tennis Family. The players and coached were filled up to the top with all the support and love that you sent our way, and it is HUGELY APPRECIATED!

Go Midd!

- Middlebury Tennis Coaching Staff