It was a fun and action-packed week of competing in Southern
California. The Panthers had an absolute blast and want to first send a shout
out to everyone who helped contribute to support our fundraising efforts to
make this trip possible! An additional shoutout to both the Hilty and Morris families who provided an incredible array of snacks throughout the trip for each match! Thank you!
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| Morris '22 Ripping a forehand! |
Match Highlights
We began our trip with a clutch 4-3 team win over Division II
Biola. The Panthers claimed the doubles point via Martin/Farrell at #1 doubles
and Eazor/Vanezis at #2 doubles. Despite losing three matches that went to
three sets at the top three singles positions, wins by Vanezis, Vilys, and
Hilty at #4 through #6 singles allowed the Panthers to come away victorious!
Special shout out to Vilys, coming from way behind in the second set and then
cruising to a 6-1 score in the third! Read full match details here.
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| Vilys' 22 Lining up a big serve! |
The very next day we challenged ourselves with a doubleheader against Occidental and then George Fox (ranked #31 in the nation). Winning the matches by overall scores of 8-1 and then 7-2 respectively, we continued our winning ways. The Panthers got off to a hot start in both matches with Eazor, Farrell, Martin, Samets, and Xiao each contributing to two doubles wins and Cuba and Vanezis, who both paired with Eazor in one of the two matches that day, contributing to one doubles win as well. The evidence continued to build that the Panthers can be a force on the doubles court! In singles, Guo, Vanezis, Vilys, Sutton, and Hilty all put a point on the board for the Panthers versus Occidental. In the afternoon match against George Fox, Morris, Xiao, Eazor, and Guo also notched key victories. The recap for the Occidental and George Fox matches can be seen here.
For perhaps our toughest test of the trip, the Panthers geared up to square off
with Div. I’s UC Irvine. Despite the 1-6 team score and first loss of the
season for the Panthers, we demonstrated that we have the capacity to compete
with the very best tennis players in the country regardless of Division. In the
loss of the doubles point, we did win at #2 doubles 6-4 with Farrell and Martin
showing incredible resilience in a hard-fought match win. Showing similar grit
and determination, Guo came away with a decisive straight set win at #5 singles
after being way down in the first set. Apparently, DI did not know what hit
them when they got their first taste of the #GuoExperience. Farrell, Xiao, and
Vanezis also battled hard and each lost in very competitive three set matches. With
each day outside, the Panthers seemed to be picking up stream. A full recap of
our UC Irvine match can be seen here.
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| Martin '19 and Farrell '19 are one of the greatest combinations since peanut butter and jelly! |
Given
another crack at an extremely difficult opponent, we found ourselves battling
to an incredibly closely contested 3-4 loss to DII Azusa Pacific. After a slow start at all three doubles positions, the Panthers demonstrated
incredible heart with a 7-6 win at #1 doubles after being down 0-5 and also
winning 7-6 at #2 doubles after being down 1-4! It is never wise to count us
out if there is tennis left to be played! In singles, Xiao and Eazor each
posted victories in singles. Unfortunately, Azusa played well at both #3 and #5
singles winning in straight sets and then just barely inched past us at #1 and
#2 singles with wins 7-5 and 6-4 in the third respectively. The full match
recap versus Azusa Pacific can be seen here.
After
a needed day of rest, or at least a little bit of rest and a little bit of practice, the
Panthers demonstrated the level of play they can achieve as a group. We earned
a hard fought 8-1 decision over Pomona (ranked #13 nationally). We started off
with a decisive 8-1 win by Samets/Xiao at #3 doubles, and continued to roll
with an 8-7 win by Eazor/Cuba at #1 doubles and an 8-5 win by Farrell/Martin at
#2 doubles to complete the full doubles sweep. Eazor/Cuba seem to have a pretty
good knack for winning tiebreakers this year! After that, the Panthers never
looked back with Farrell earning an incredible straight set win at #1 singles,
followed by Xiao, Guo, Eazor and Vanezis who also all posted singles wins for
the Panthers. Again, the full match recap for Pomona can be seen here.
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| Vanezis '20 continues to impress and improve by the day! |
In our final match of the trip, we took a tough loss to a very good CMS team on their home courts by a decision of 7-2. Even though the level of our play was not what we had hoped, taking on a difficult opponent always provides us with the gift of needed feedback for what we need to work on if we want to be able to compete for a national title at the end of the season. Within the loss, we still had some fun highlights of Cuba/Eazor winning yet another 8-7 doubles tiebreaker and then Xiao posting an impressive straight set victory over a very skilled opponent. We certainly hope that we play well enough to give us another chance to compete against CMS later in the year at the NCAA tournament. The full match recap can be seen here.
Other Fun Trip Highlights
Even
though not posted in the official box scores, the Panthers played extremely
well in all of our exhibition match play. Shout out to team Brach/Vilys, and
singles players Vilys and Hilty who competed and won in the most exhibitions of
anyone on our Panther squad. These are critical opportunities to compete that
help our group get better!
Another
annual SoCal team event has been enjoying a BBQ feast at Bryan
Shapiro’s (a former UC Santa Cruz player for Coach Hansen) who cooked up a yet
another incredible meal for the hungry Panther men. Rounding out our eating adventures, we also
explored some of the best tacos in the country at the Taco Man (near Claremont)
and Guisados (near LA).
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| When in SoCal, we can eat quite a few tacos! |
The Panthers look to stay hungry as we have three really fun matches coming up this weekend at home against stiff competition. As a reminder, it is Alumni Weekend (please let us know if you will be joining us and have not already RSVPed) while the Panthers take on Wesleyan on Saturday and then Connecticut College and Emory on Sunday. We can’t wait!
As always, thanks so much for your support and for following
along!
Go
Midd!
The
Middlebury Men’s Tennis Coach Staff
