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!
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| Circling up always a special moment of togetherness for our squad! |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Hugh and Thehan staying literally connected! |
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| 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
