Both the Middlebury men’s and women’s tennis teams emerged victorious from the opening weekend of the spring season. The third-ranked men’s team earned a pair of victories at home on Saturday, March 14, defeating Stevens and Brandeis by scores of 8-1 and 7-2, respectively. The women’s team also reeled in two wins on Saturday, competing on the road against Skidmore and Rensselaer. The women returned to the Middlebury courts on Sunday, March 15 to open the home portion of their season with a 9-0 win against Brandeis.
In the men’s doubles matches at home in the Duke Nelson Recreation Center against 29th-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology, all three Panther pairs ousted the Stevens competition, putting Middlebury up 3-0 early in the match. The doubles tandem of Chris Frost ’15 and William de Quant ’18 earned an 8-3 victory, while the no. two flight pair of Ari Smolyar ’16 and Noah Farrell ’18 won with a score of 8-2. Middlebury’s top team of Palmer Campbell ’16 and Peter Heidrich ’15 rounded out the Panthers’ doubles success on the day with an 8-6 victory.
In singles, Campbell struck again for the Panthers, earning the team’s fourth point with a victory at the No. 3 position. Teammates Farrell (No. 2), Smolyar (No. 1), Courtney Mountifield ’15 (No. 4) and Allen Jackson ’16 (No. 6) all recorded victories. In addition to these wins, Palmer, Jackson and Farrell won in straight sets in their singles matches against Stevens. Stevens picked up its lone point of the day with a win at the No. 5 position.
Later in the day against Brandeis the men again swept the doubles competition with an 8-2 victory in the top flight, an 8-3 decision at No. 2 and an 8-3 advantage at No. 3. The team then put on a 4-2 performance in the singles matches with Smolyar, Campbell, Jackson and de Quant picking up victories to ultimately edge 33rd-ranked Brandeis by a score of 7-2.
The men’s team, currently sitting at 2-0 on the season, will return to action during its spring break trip to California. The team will compete in a total of seven matches during their time in California, playing between Saturday, March 21 and Friday, March 27.
Meanwhile, the women’s tennis team, ranked tenth nationally, also notched a pair of wins on the road on Saturday at 20th-ranked Skidmore and Rensselaer. They continued their winning streak on Sunday with a home victory against 26th-ranked Brandeis.
In similar fashion to the men’s squad, the women claimed the first three points of the match with victories in each doubles flight. The pairing of Kaysee Orozco ’17 and Jennifer Sundstrom ’17 reigned in an 8-2 win at the No. 2 spot. Alexandra Fields ’17 and Lauren Amos ’16 edged their Skidmore opponents 8-3 at No. 3. The first flight pair of Ria Gerger ’16 and Lily Bondy ’17 took slightly more play to best their matchups, but ultimately pulled away with a 9-7 decision.
In singles, the match continued to turn in Middlebury’s favor with wins in all but the fifth spot. Fields (No. 2), Orozco (No. 3), Bondy (No. 4), Katie Paradies ’15 (No. 6) and Gerger (No. 1) all won in straight sets to notch the final match score at 8-1 in favor of the Panthers.
Later in the day the Panthers took on Rensselear, surrendering just six games in all three doubles victories. Orozco and Sundstrom won 8-5 from the No. 1 position, Amos and Fields earned the 8-1 victory at No. 2 and Sadie Shackelford ’16 and Paradies emerged victorious 8-0 in the third flight. In addition, the Panthers further silenced Rensselear with straight-set wins in each of the individual matches.
After the pair of victories on the road, the women’s team returned to their home court to host 26th-ranked Brandeis. Again, the team cruised to wins in all three doubles matches, winning 8-1 at No. 1, 8-3 at No. 2 and 8-4 at No. 3. The successful streak continued in singles play, with the Panthers dropping a total of only 14 games as they secured straight-set wins in all six singles flights. The combination of wins on the day allowed the Panthers to surge past Brandeis by a final match score of 9-0.
Paradies commented on the team’s play over the weekend, stating, “The matches were a great start to the season [and] provided an amazing opportunity to test the projects that we have been working on.” In addition, the weekend allowed the team to “understand how to best prepare for spring break,” Paradies said.
The Panthers, who hold a 3-0 record on the season, will participate in five matches during their spring break trip to California. The team will begin their trip with a match against fifth-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps next Saturday, March 21.
