Panthers Finish Fall 2024 Season in Style

The fall season always seems to fly by, and this year particularly so with incredible weather and excellent competition to begin our team’s journey. Our group is a hard-working bunch and one that is incredibly fun to work with and be around because of their high expectations and goals for themselves individually and collectively. One key for our team will be to stay present and to enjoy the process of putting in the hard work. We are thrilled as coaches knowing that our team will keep striving to improve now that we have reached our development season. However, let’s first recap our final fall events.    

ITA Cup (Neel Epstein)

It is always a special opportunity when one of our Panthers earns the honor of representing our team at the ITA Cup by making a run at our ITA New England regional event. Neel traveled to Rome, GA with Coach Tristan. Battling some of the best competition in the nation, Neel played three wars each day. He dropped a hard-fought straight set match in the opening round, then bounced back to win his next match 7-5 in the third set, and competed through until the very end of another epic match losing 4-6 in the third in his final bout. Most importantly, Neel left it all on the courts and honed his competitive fire which will serve both Neel and our squad well as we keep building and rising. Full scores and details of Neel’s run are captured here.

Boston University and Bryant University Hidden Dual Tournament

The final stop for our fall tournament season was in Boston. It was a great opportunity to test ourselves on the road against two Div. I programs and to compete against a pool of players that we do not typically play against. Our group rose to the challenge and then some in this event. The format was unique and fun where each of the schools created two mini-teams of four players, and then played 2 doubles matches and 4 singles matches per round across four rounds. In total for both days of competition, we went 6-2 in doubles play and 11-5 in singles play. Credit to our group for demonstrating both focus and hunger to use each and every competitive opportunity to our advantage. What a fantastic way to put a punctuation mark on our October and to provide ourselves with clear feedback about how we can keep growing our skills on the court heading into our development season. More details and results can be found here.

New Outdoor Courts Mostly Finished

We have been training at our new 12-court outdoor facility for about 3-weeks. More finishing touches are on the way, but we are beyond excited about how things have turned out so far! You can read a brief overview about our new facility here.

Thank You (Panther Challenge) and Alumni Spotlight

We want to extend another huge thank you to so many who contributed to our Proud to Be A Panther Challenge fundraiser. Everyone’s support means so much to us and we are fortunate to be a part of a program with such great history, alumni, family, and friends. Without doubt, the magic of Midd tennis is derived from so many who have invested their hearts and souls in our program and we hope to continue to build on our wonderful foundation.  

Last but not least, just in case you did not already see it on social media check our Will Oberrender '13 who was highlighted in a Midd Athletics almuni spotlight. Click here to check it out! 

Panthers Shine Across First Two Fall Tournaments

It has been a phenomenally beautiful fall season so far in Middlebury, and our tennis play is on a steady rise upward through our first two fall tournaments. The coaches have really enjoyed seeing our team take shape at the beginning stages of the year, and we can already sense a beautiful theme about this year’s squad: a hunger and passion to get better! Always enjoyable to collaborate with this group and fired up to keep improving as we go. Here are a few highlights from both events, as well as our upcoming fall schedule.

ITA Singles Finalist Neel Epstein pictured with
Coach AT 

Middlebury Invitational

With beautifully warm and dry weather, it was a perfect weekend to host our Middlebury Invitational! Against some tough DIII competition out of the gate, we demonstrated a lot of depth and success across the board. In A flight single play, both Neel Epstein and Noah Laber made deep runs to the semifinals, Noah Lewis booked a trip to the quarterfinals, and Hugh Hentschel earned two wins in consolation play! In the B flight, both Thehan Wijemanne and Nikky Kondamuri had strong showings going to the semifinals and finals respectively, both falling to the same opponent. In the C flight, Sidney Huet earned his first collegiate singles wins reaching the semifinals, with fellow freshmen Reif Larsen winning the C flight draw across 4 solid wins (also his first collegiate wins)! In doubles, our squad was paced by Noah Laber and Hugh Hentschel who paired to win the A flight doubles crown! Neel Epstein and Thehan Wijemanne made the semifinals as well. More detailed results can be found by checking out the tournament box scores here. 

Reif Larsen won the C Flight Singles, let's go!

New England ITA Regional

Building off a solid start at the Midd Invite, the Panthers traveled to Boston for the New England ITA Regional event. Nothing like a road trip with the boys! The team performed exceptionally well as a whole with everyone contributing. On the first day, we earned four doubles wins to only one loss, placing 3 of our doubles teams into the round of 16 (Hentschel/Epstein, Wijemanne/Laber, and Kondamuri/Lewis). Perhaps even more impressively, we won 9 of 10 singles matches despite the incredibly competitive draw, earning 4 of our singles players spots in the Rd of 16, including Nikky Kondamuri and Noah Lewis both earning wins over seeded players. On Day 2, much of the fun continued with two of our three doubles teams earned spots into the quarterfinals (Hentschel/Epstein, Wijemanne/Laber) before losing tight matches in that round. Noah Laber also earned a hard-fought win to reach the quarterfinals before losing a war of a three-set match to end his run. Leading the charge for the Panthers, Neel Epstein won two three-set thrillers on Day 2, and found his way through another epic three-set battle on Day 3 to punch his ticket to the finals (and earning himself a spot at the ITA National Event called the ITA Cup in Rome, GA). After leaving it all on the line across the past three matches, Neel came up short in the finals but will continue his run next week in Georgia! Special shout out to Thehan Wijemanne, Sidney Huet, and Reif Larsen who all competed well in B singles draw and even some additional exhibition matches to maximize our ITA experience. More detailed results can be found by checking out the tournament box scores here. 

Nikky Kondamuri competing and rising!

Hugh Hentschel digging out a slice and balling!

Upcoming Tournaments

- Oct 10-13: Neel will compete at the ITA Cup in Rome, GA

- Oct 26-27: Boston University Hidden Dual

Neel ready to return serve!

 We can’t wait for more fun ahead and thanks so much for all of the wonderful support felt from near and far!

- The Middlebury Men’s Tennis Coaches

Kicking off our 2024-2025 Journey!

Now is a time we look forward to even more than holiday season when our Middlebury Panthers are returning to campus to begin the new school year. Excited for a great fall season as we kick off our new journey! Our squad had an incredibly productive summer including completing internships, traveling, and off course competing on the tennis courts both domestically and internationally as well!

Sophomore Thehan Wijemanne competing for Sri Lanka in Davis Cup
play this past summer helping to achieve a promotion! Let's go!

Senior Neel Epstein grinding on the red clay in France!

This Fall, we have two juniors, Nathan Jackson and Julian Wu who are studying abroad in Copenhagen. We will miss them but glad they are together to train and play while they are there too.   

The Panther roster for the 2023-2024 season is comprised of a balanced 5 upperclassmen and 5 underclassmen. Coach Andrew Thomson enters his 8th season back at Middlebury as a coach and Tristan Kaye enters his 3rd season at Middlebury. The excitement we feel for the upcoming season is immense, and it will be a joy to see how we can explore our potential and look to make another deep postseason run. Of course, we got to get to work and starting building and exploring our potential to learn what we can become capable of! 

Sophomore Nikky Kondamuri lining up a backhand!

Freshman Sideny Huet ready to rumble!

2024-25 Team Roster

• Seniors: Neel Epstein and Noah Laber

• Juniors: Hugh Hentschel, Nathan Jackson, Julian Wu

• Sophomores: Nikky Kondamuri, Noah Lewis, Thehan Wijemanne

• Freshmen: Sidney Huet and Reif Larsen

• Coaching Staff: Andrew Thomson and Tristan Kaye

2024 Fall Schedule

Fun Fact

Our Panther men have continued to crush it in the classroom, with 100% of our roster earning ITA Academic All-American status last year (2nd year in a row)! That’s the way!

Go Midd!

The Middlebury Men’s Tennis Coaching Staff

Wrapping Up a Special Year (20-5)

Often the hardest part about college tennis is that each season has to end sometime, but what a special and wonderful journey it was. We finished the season with a 20-5 record, and took a full swing at each step along the way. Although we collectively felt that we positioned ourselves to take a run at a national title, we fell short in the NCAA semifinals. Despite the sting of the loss, we can carry our heads high with the knowledge that we collectively invested so much in ourselves and the team, and created special memories to carry with us for a lifetime. A special note about this squad was our resilience and ability to fight back, even when things looked the bleakest. We were never out of the fight! Next we will provide brief recaps of the NESCAC and NCAA tournaments, and complete our final blog post of this season by thanking so many special people who have left a major imprint on our program and in our hearts. We already cannot wait to keep building and beginning our journey for next year!

Circling up always a special moment of togetherness for our squad!

Squad gearing up for NCAA Elite 8 Match.

NESCACs (Midd beats Trin CT 5-0, loses to Bowdoin 4-5)

We came into NESCACs on a tear and continued our momentum with a 5-0 sweep of Trinity (CT). Our doubles carried the day followed by strong singles performances as well. The following day, we took on Bowdoin in a rematch from a couple of weeks prior. Out of the gates, Bowdoin came out playing very well, and we were down 1-2 in doubles with Wu/Harris earning a key victory at #3 doubles to steady us. In singles play, we knew we were in for a war. After losing 4 of 6 first sets in singles, we showed our grit by winning all 6 second sets at the singles positions! After a multitude of three-set battles, our comeback bid came up just shy after a grueling 4.5 hour dual match. The full box scores can be seen here and here respectively.

Robby lining up a forehand!

NCAA Regional Rounds (Midd beats Allegheny 5-0, Midd beats MIT 5-0)

After NESCACs, our team doubled down on our training and sharpened our tools to make a postseason run. We hit the ground running with two very impressive sweeps. We swept doubles in both our Round of 32 and 16 matches, with Aidan Harris and Noah Lewis being the first to get their singles matches across the finish line both days as well. Both matches were played on beautiful spring days in Middlebury, and were a special way for our team to wrap up our final home matches of the year in style against a very talented MIT team! The box scores can be seen here and here respectively. 

Neel driving a forehand!

NCAA Final Rounds (Midd beat Emory 5-4, Midd loses to Chicago 5-2)

We had made the Elite 8 for the 10th consecutive year and were looking to extend our run of Final Four (or better) appearances, but knew that we’d be facing a worthy foe in Emory in our quarterfinal matchup. This turned out to be one of the most epic matches and comebacks in our program history. The match with a battle on each doubles court, and Middlebury only coming away with a key win by Hentschel/Wijemanne at #3 doubles. In singles play, we lost in straight sets at #4 and #5 singles, but won in straight sets with a particularly impressive win by Noah Laber at the top singles slot! This had us down 2-4, with three matches out there still battling. Middlebury would take each and every one! Julian Wu won a fantastic three-set battle at the #2 slot, followed by Robby Ward winning a gritty back and forth three-set battle of his own at the #3 spot. This set the table for Noah Lewis at #6 singles who came from behind after dropping the first set to clinch the match 6-2 with all his teammates cheering him on! Not only was this a special and epic comeback, it earned us the best reward, to play together again at least one more time.

Hugh and Thehan staying literally connected!

Noah connecting on a backhand!

Unfortunately, our semifinal match started out with a doubles sweep against us. Despite this, we would not let go of the rope easily. We lost at #6 singles in straight sets, but posted straight set wins at both #1 singles (Noah Laber) and #5 singles (Aidan Harris). Ahead in a couple of other matches, we just could not quite close the gap after the doubles deficit and eventually conceded the match (we even sustained a couple hour rain delay mid match). It was a disappointing result, but the camaraderie and togetherness of our team could not be questioned! No other team the coaches have loved coaching more than this group! Box scores for our Emory and Chicago matches can be seen here and here respectively. 

NCAA Individuals

Lewi soaking in a fun moment post Emory!

In individual doubles play, Neel and Robby lost a tough straight set battle in their Rd of 16 matchup, but capped off a special year where they have often been a top 5 nationally ranked duo! They have a been a special pair for us the last couple of years and it’s been fun to see them excel and improve during their tenure together. In individual singles play, Juju competed in two back-to-back marathon matches. He won his first match against the top player from Redlands University 7-6 in the third set tiebreaker and then geared up to face the player who made a run to the finals of this same event last year. Julian lost the first set, battled back to win the second set. Deep in the third set at 5-6, his opponent had taken an injury timeout and was hurting physically, but then a tornado warning took place allowing for more recovery. Unfortunately, after the break, Julian was not quite able to force another 3-set tiebreak and ceded the match 5-7. As always, Juju, Robby, and Neel competed hard and represented Middlebury with passion and pride!

Thank You

Too many fun moments to count, but celebrating post Emory was special!

A final tip of our cap and special note of gratitude needs to be shared to wrap up our final blog post. First, we would like to say thank you for the dedication and hard work of some key Middlebury staff members. Shelby, thanks for being an incredible athletic trainer and taking care of our squad from start to finish. We would not have been able to compete as well without your support and efforts! Thanks to Ali Paquette, Dain McKee, Cal Meachem and all of Athletic Communications for traveling with us, taking pictures and videos, and capturing so many magic moments during our season. Thanks also to our guest strength coach Ryan Nosak, he's a Panther beast who added to our program a ton this year as well. Thanks to our team parents and families whose incredible support, cheering, taking us out to eat, providing snacks, traveling, and being there for our group helps make us feel like the most loved and supported team!

Last but certainly not least, thank you to our senior group for all of your sacrifices and hard work! Congrats on your graduation! You have made our program better and we cannot wait to welcome you in our alumni group! It is going to be a special pleasure to follow where life takes you all next. Stay hungry and have fun!   

Go Midd!
- Middlebury Tennis Coaching Staff

Panthers (16-3) Finish Regular Season in Style!

We wrapped up regular season play this past weekend, and it is clear our Panthers are rising heading into the postseason! Across the past two weekends, we went 4-0 against some great competition but even more importantly built our confidence and grew our collective skillset by one more step. A key ingredient to our recent success has been excellent doubles play, which we were determined to make strides with after going down 0-3 a few weeks back. Sure enough, we swept the doubles points four times in a row! This past weekend we also welcomed some wonderful Midd Men’s Tennis alums back to campus, who supported us all weekend long in addition to hosting our annual senior celebration! Needless to say, our boys were feeling the love and support from all sides, and it showed in their impressive play! We will need to continue to stay hungry, and to remind ourselves to enjoy each and every step on our journey as we venture into the NESCAC conference tournament, and then hopefully the NCAA tournament.

Senior Photos!

Hamilton College (Midd wins 8-1)

We kicked off our road match versus Hamilton by building some momentum on the doubles courts. We did not lose a single game at #3 doubles (Wu/Harris), only lost 2 games at #1 doubles (Epstein/Ward), and then came up good in hard fought tiebreak win at #2 doubles (Hentschel/Wijemanne). We then stormed to five of six wins in singles, with our only loss coming at the #1 singles position. See the full box score here.

Max and Robby enjoying as always!

Amherst College (Midd wins 9-0)

We knew we’d be up against a solid opponent that had been playing well in Amherst. Going into this challenge on the road, we came out swinging from all spots. After two rock solid wins at #1 and #3 doubles (Epstein/Ward and Wu/Harris), we again found ourselves watching an epic tiebreak win by #2 doubles (Wijemanne/Hentschel). We had the momentum from our second consecutive doubles sweep, but knew our opponent was not going to give up easily. Battling to four three set wins and two straight set victories, our boys did not let up across the board. The clinching match came at #3 singles (Ward). This result was one of the most complete performances we had put together all year, giving us momentum and a head of steam heading into our final two regular season matches we’d host at home the following weekend. The full box score can be seen here. 

Noah and Thehan also enjoying getting their photographs taken!

Bowdoin College (Midd wins 6-3)

To initiate senior weekend, we faced off with Bowdoin on the Proctor courts. In front of a great home crowd of friends and family, we jumped out to a 3-0 lead via our 3rd consecutive doubles sweep! After decisive performances by #2 (Hentschel/Wijemanne) and #3 doubles (Wu/Harris), our #1 doubles team (Epstein/Ward) took out yet another tough opponent 8-6 to complete our sweep. Even with a nice cushion after doubles, we knew we would still have to wrestle this match away from Bowdoin if we wanted to complete the victory. We are able to do just that with #5 singles (Harris) putting a point on the board to set up #4 singles (Epstein) to clinch the match against Bowdoin. At #2 singles, Julian Wu earned another impressive victory over a strong opponent in a 7-6(1) third set decider! Full box score can be seen here. 

Noah Laber tracking the ball.

Colby College (Midd wins 8-1)

In our final regular season match, we began things with another hot start and built on our doubles momentum. We won all three doubles positions by scores of 8-1, 8-3, and 8-3. Awesome! Colby was a talented team and we knew would not give in easily, but the boys just kept on working to get the job done. The clinch again came via the two quickest wins from #s 4 and 5 singles (Epstein and Harris), but we kept on pushing further including wins on the bookends of the lineup. At #1 singles (Laber) took out a strong and regionally ranked opponent, while at #6 singles (Lewis) played with fierce joy, earning another point for the Panthers. Fittingly, the final point of the day came from a senior at #3 singles (Ward) to put the exclamation point on a very special weekend. Full box score can be seen here. 

Nathan lining up a forehand!

Senior Celebration Photos

We hope you enjoy a brief glimpse into our senior celebration. It was an incredibly fun occasion!

A handsome group that certainly has left a big imprint on Middlebury Men's Tennis!

Full squad celebrating the seniors!

Seniors and Parents!

Postseason Play Up Next

Our next match will take place on Friday, where we will take on Trinity (CT) at 9am EST in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC tournament hosted by Amherst Collge. One thing we know for sure, MIDDLEBURY LOVES THE POSTSEASON!

Go Midd!

The Middlebury Men’s Tennis Coaching Staff

The Resilience and Joy of Our Panthers (12-3) Has Been on Full Display

Hard to believe how fast time flies when we are in season, and our action-packed spring continues to reveal more about where our squad is and where we are headed! Since we last posted, we have gone 3-1 in NESCAC conference play and are setting a pace to be charging ahead for more exciting matches. Two overall themes have been consistent, the depth of our team continues to impress as well as our ability to stick together and demonstrate grit and resilience when needed. We have recognized that we need to continue building our collective skills and strengths, particularly on the doubles side of the ball, and cannot wait to keep putting in the work!

The squad, always together getting ready to rumble!

We also want to highlight and remind our alumni that our alumni weekend matches will take place on April 27-28 (and our senior celebration will take place the evening of April 27th as well). We cannot wait to see many of you there!

Williams College (Midd lost 4-5)

Robby Ward serving it up to set up partner Neel Epstein to hunt volleys at the net!

On a sunny, albeit windy and cool afternoon, we took the courts to take on a fun matchup with Williams. We lost a couple of tightly contested doubles matches at #2 and #3 doubles, but were buoyed by an impressive performance at #1 doubles (Ward/Epstein) who took out the #2 ranked team in the region to put us on the board! In singles play, we roared out to take four first sets, but came up one singles win short of being victorious. Our wins came at #4-6 singles (Epstein, Harris, and Lewis respectively). Although we put our hearts on the line and competed as we always do, we knew immediately after this match we wanted to use it as a learning experience to propel us forward. The fire was burning stronger than ever, and this is what makes coaching this group such an enjoyable task! See the full box score here.

Connecticut College (Midd won 9-0) and Trinity College (Midd won 9-0)

In our next two NESCAC matchups, both on the road, we came out firing from start to finish! It is not always easy to play excellent tennis when you are ranked ahead of an opponent, but we managed to do just that. We won at all 18 spots across the two matchups, but more importantly brought a great sense of energy and enthusiasm across these matches and really competed together and for each other. That is one of the most special parts of college tennis, using the court-to-court momentum and taking advantage of the unique camaraderie that has been a part of the Middlebury Tennis program for many decades! The box scores can be seen here and here respectively.

Wesleyan University (Midd won 6-3)

Noah Lewis digging in for a backhand volley (photo from spring break)!

In our third consecutive away NESCAC match (of what will be five in a row), we took on a Wesleyan team that came in with a great deal of confidence after beating Williams the day before. Although we came out firing pretty well jumping out to leads on a couple of doubles courts, we ended up losing all three matchups in doubles including having a match point in one of them. If our memory is correct, we had not completed a comeback after being swept in doubles since 2019. However, with the deeply felt knowledge of the resilience and capability of our team this year we could feel that this match was far from over. Sure enough, we pulled together in an incredibly impressive performance to win all 6 singles matches in straight sets! The connection between our players was palpable from court-to-court and from their teammates on the sidelines. The clinching 5th point came from freshman Noah Lewis at #5 singles who finished just a few points ahead of Robby ward who earned our 6th and final team point at #2 singles. Shout outs to Julian Wu (#1 singles), Neel Epstein (#3 singles), Aidan Harris (#4 singles), and Hugh Hentschel (#6 singles) who also prevailed in their singles matches to set the stage for the clinching match. The full box score can be seen here. 

Upcoming Schedule (NOTE: ALUMNI WEEKEND IS APRIL 27-28, SENIOR CELEBRATION is April 27)

Next up on our journey two more weekends filled with regular season conference matchups, with the NESCAC tournament to follow. Let’s go Midd!

Go Midd!

- Middlebury Tennis Coaching Staff

Panthers (9-2): Battle Tested After Spring Break Heading Into NESCAC Play

We are now just on the other side of our spring break and heading into more NESCAC play starting this weekend! Before we outline our schedule ahead, we want to take a stab at summarizing our six matches in seven days during our stint in SoCal. It was a whirlwind of challenge and fun, and our group continues to rise and demonstrate our potential to be a fierce and dangerous squad as we move through our journey this year. We won four out of our six matches last week, and even more importantly grew our collective resilience and confidence for what lies ahead! The coaches have been continually impressed by our group’s doubles play (we have gained a lead after doubles in every DIII matchup so far this year) and our collective ability to enjoy challenging competitive moments. Beyond the courts, we enjoyed living in SoCal for the week getting a chance to spend some time at the beach, eat a lot of tacos, and most importantly solidified the bonds that bind our group that only get fully cemented when traveling together.

Always a good day to BE GREAT!

All smiles!

More smiles!

Alumni Weekend

We want to highlight and remind our alumni that our alumni weekend matches will take place on April 27-28. We cannot wait to see many of you there!

University of Redlands (Midd won 8-1)

We wasted no time diving into a competitive matchup playing the very next day after we arrived in CA against an opponent that is historically challenging to face on the road. After kicking things off with a 2-1 doubles lead, highlighted by #2 doubles (Harris/Laber) posting a quick 8-1 proset to get things rolling, we then proceeded to sweep all six singles matches winning four in straight sets and two in third sets. See full box score here.

Aidan Harris and Noah Laber!

Chapman University (Midd won 7-2) and Hope International University (Midd won 9-0)

The very next day we took on both Chapman and Hope International on the same day. It was an excellent day for the Panthers where nearly everyone on our roster earned a win during the day whether in the matches or additional exhibition matches. A day like this highlighted our team depth throughout and our hunger to take advantage of all opportunities to compete and learn.

Box scores can be seen here and here respectively. 

Julian Wu and Joe Mairs!

Robby Ward!

Azusa Pacific University (Midd lost 4-1)

Playing a perennial DII powerhouse, Azusa Pacific, we knew we were in for a fun battle. We played all DI rules and the doubles was an intense fight. Our group’s doubles charge was again led by #2 doubles (Harris/Laber) who posted a 6-3 win. Unfortunately, APU took the other two doubles flights but we definitely had our noses in there. In singles play, we fought until the nd but came up just short. Panther highlights included #4 singles (Aidan Harris) who posted a straight set win as well as #2 singles (Julian Wu) and #5 singles (Neel Epstein) who both had commanding leads before play was stopped as the match was clinched. Box score can be seen here.

Neel Epstein balling!

Julian Wu balling!

Pomona-Pitzer (Midd won 8-1)

After a couple of days without scheduled matches, we continued to bring our best on the courts kicking off this match with a doubles sweep! Winning at #1-3 doubles, we put pressure on PP immediately heading into singles play perhaps highlighted by a decisive 8-2 win at #1 doubles (Ward/Epstein). The group never slowed down even for a minute. Winning four matches in straight sets and one in three, the Panthers displayed that our ability to hit from all aspects of the lineup to put points on the board!  See the full box score here.

Neel Epstein and Robby Ward!

CMS (Midd lost 4-3)

Heading into a tough place to play against another top nationally ranked opponent, we could not wait to see how we would stack up against the competition. The match did not disappoint.  We played DI scoring format in this matchup because of the ability to do so if both teams agree well in advance, in preparation to get used to this type of format for future years (it seems to be on its way to DIII tennis soon). The Panthers kicked things off in style by winning all three doubles sets, including a nice come from behind effort at #3 doubles (Wu/Lewis). Heading into singles play with a 1-0 lead, we knew we had to keep going. We took our momentum from doubles and won 4 first sets, but CMS dug their heels in and we had a fight on our hands throughout. The Panthers singles play was highlighted by wins at #5 singles (Epstein) and a three-set winning effort at #2 singles (Wu). Unfortunately, CMS turned around two matches in three set battles to provide them with a narrow 4-3 win. Although the taste of a loss can be bitter, our group remains poised and on the path. We know that neither wins nor losses will define us, but rather our ability to move forward continuing to grow, improve, and prepare for what lies ahead. There is simply no joy better than competing together, and we cannot wait for more dual match battles ahead soon! Check out the box score here.

Nikky Kondamuri and Nathan Jackson!

Thehan Wijemanne!

Upcoming Schedule (NOTE: ALUMNI WEEKEND IS APRIL 27-28)

Next up on our journey is our NESCAC conference play where we will continue to face many of the top DIII teams in the nation. Let’s go!!! Check it out below.

Go Midd!

- Middlebury Tennis Coaching Staff

Panthers (5-0) Get Out to a Strong Start

It has been an exciting start to the year with our group racking up five straight wins! Our triumphs included wins over a D-II opponent and three wins over nationally ranked teams including Bates (#39), Brandeis (#20), and Tufts (#5). Our team has highlighted our impressive depth throughout our roster with 100% of our players earning a win across these matches, and a fantastic blend of veteran and underclassmen performances. We know we have played some solid tennis, but that with continued hard work and refinement we can push ourselves to play even better than our current clip. The coaches have been continually impressed by this group’s dedication, and their hunger to continue to get better will certainly serve us well as we prepare for many more exciting and fun challenges ahead (see our spring break schedule below)!

Hugh Hentschel serving up some early season wins with his teammates!

Brandeis University (Midd wins 7-2)

Kicking off our season with a strong opponent, the doubles was intensely contested in this one. Paced by a strong win at #3 doubles (Wu/Lewis) and then a gutsy comeback win at #1 doubles (Epstein/Ward), the Panthers came away with a 2-1 lead headed into singles play. Our squad began to settle in to the dual match environment, and hit hard from all positions earning 5 of 6 singles wins, with the only dropped match being a hard fought 3-set battle. See the full box score here.

Noah Lewis and Nathan Jackson came ready to rumble!

Skidmore College (Midd wins 9-0)

Showing off both our depth and hunger in the second-half of our opening day double-header, the Panthers were amped up to compete. A special note about this match beyond solid play from top to bottom, is that all three of our Freshmen Panthers earned decisive straight set wins, marking the first dual match victories in singles play for each of them simultaneously! See the full box score here.

Saint Michael’s College (Midd wins 9-0)

During another double-header day, the Panthers came out swinging versus our first DII opponent this year. We came out charging in doubles play and never looked back in this one. Across many great highlights, senior standouts Maximus Kim and Andrew Mueller finished off this match in style with impressive straight set victories to secure the match. See the full box score here.

Bates College (Midd wins 9-0)

In our second match of the day, the Panthers simply showed no let up in this one. We took the momentum from the jump, with impressive doubles wins at #1-3 doubles (8-5, 8-5, and 8-3) by Epstein/Ward, Laber/Harris, and Hentschel/Mairs respectively. This is no easy task against a solid Bates team that always comes to play and always has strong doubles. From there, the Panthers took all six singles matches in straight set style, playing to our own high standards across the board. See the full box score here.

Noah Laber and Aidan Harris throwback photo!

Tufts (Midd wins 6-3)

Anytime we take on a top-5 nationally ranked opponent, we know we need to be prepared for a good battle. The match was an exciting one from start to finish, and we had to hit hard across all 9 positions before Tufts finally relinquished the match. In doubles play, we came out strong earning excellent wins at #2 doubles (Laber/Harris) and #3 doubles (Mairs/Hentschel) to get out to a 2-0 lead. Putting the pressure on, our #1 doubles pair (Epstein/Ward) nearly gave us the doubles sweep but fell just short in a tiebreaker. We love that we competed well and put ourselves in great positions across the board in doubles and in singles too. In singles play, we earned 3 impressive and decisive straight set wins at #2 singles (Wu), #3 singles (Ward), and #5 singles (Epstein). Our only two singles losses came in three-set battles, but our 5th clinching point was earned via a third set tiebreaker where #6 singles (Hentschel) posted an awesome 7-0 tiebreak win to secure the victory for the Panthers! See the full box score here.

Julian Wu (Juju) calm and collected per usual!

Neel Epstein bringing the focus!

Spring Break

Next up on our journey is our spring break trip to SoCal, which is always a highlight both on the courts and off. As we transition to more outdoor matches and play a slate of challenging opponents throughout the week, it will be a great test and way to push our games to grow to new heights. Beyond the matches, traveling together and sharing the bonds that often become fully forged on the road will continue to build our already strong comradery. Check out our Spring Break Schedule below and as always you can check out our schedule/results page to check out our live scoring and live streaming.

Go Midd!

Cheers,

The Middlebury Tennis Coaching Staff