Women’s Tennis Falls to Amherst in NESCAC Semifinals

The Middlebury women’s tennis team took part in the NESCAC tournament this past weekend, May 3 and 4, at Amherst College. The team competed against Tufts in the quarterfinals on Friday, May 3, and came out on top by a score of 5-1. With the win over the Jumbos, they advanced to the semifinals on Saturday, May 4 to set up a rematch with national number-one Amherst, who defeated the Panthers 5-4 one week before.

For the second time in two weeks, Amherst defeated the Middlebury women 5-4, although this time the match was much closer, when the Panthers came within a single point of winning the match.

Middlebury started off the Tufts match with a lead as the number-one and doubles positions and won by scores of 8-0 and 8-1, respectively. The number-three team for the Panthers fell 8-4.

Ria Gerger ’16 quickly gave Middlebury a singles point, as she did not lose a game, winning 6-0, 6-0. Lok Sze Leung ’15 only gave up one more game than Gerger, claiming a victory at the number-one position 6-1, 6-0. Dorrie Paradies ’14 won her first set 6-3, but then went down 4-1 in the second set. Dorrie Paradies showed resiliency and won five straight games on her way to a 6-3, 6-4 win, clinching the overall contest and giving Middlebury a 5-1 win.

With their win over Tufts, the Panthers gave themselves another opportunity to take on Amherst. The first and second doubles matches were decided in straightforward fashion as Brittney Faber ’13 and Leah Kepping ’13 went down 8-2, while Leung and Gerger convincingly defeated their opponents 8-3. At third doubles, sisters Dorrie and Katie Paradies ’15 were up 5-2, then 7-6, and held a match point against Caroline Richman and Safaa Aly in that game, but were unable to convert it. They went on to lose the next three games in a row to lose 9-7.

The Paradies duo showed tremendous fight against an Amherst team that has now won 11 dual matches in a row. The 9-7 defeat is the closest a team has come to beating this team in all 11 of their wins.

After a short break, the singles began and Amherst had the momentum as they were up 2-1 after doubles. The first singles match to finish was number-four singles, where Dorrie Paradies went down to Gabby Devlin 6-1, 6-2. First-year Gerger came through once again giving Middlebury a second point by taking out Jennifer Newman in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

With four matches left on the court, Middlebury won first sets on three of the courts. Kepping scrapped her way to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win at number-three singles, the third time Kepping has defeated Sue Ghosh this year.

Leung won by the same score in the third when she took out Jordan Brewer 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. Leung has the ability to grind her opponents down both physically and mentally by swinging her opponent side-to-side, up and back using her tricky lefty forehand. She is also able to mix up the spins and pace of the ball, keeping her opponent from getting into a rhythm.

Faber improved upon her 6-1, 6-2 loss to Zoe Pangalos last week as she was taken out in three sets by a score of 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. With the match tied at 4-4, first-year Margot Marchese ’16 was in her third set. She lost the first set 6-3 but was able to came back to win the second set 6-4. Unfortunately, Marchese cramped during the third set and ended up succumbing to her opponent 6-3 in the third.

In her 14th and final season at Middlebury, women’s assistant coach Karen Wells commented on the team’s weekend.

“Though the loss was heartbreaking, there’s always NCAAs and I know they’re going to bring their best this weekend,” she said. “They were all reminded how much fun college tennis is. The team came out this time with even more belief and a stronger desire to beat them, if that’s possible. They rallied together and supported each other throughout the entire match.”

Middlebury has now lost two of their last three matches to finish the regular season, with both setback coming against the national number-one seeded Lord Jeffs.

The Panthers travel to Bowdoin this weekend to compete in the NCAA tournament. If they pass through this weekend’s regional competition, they will then travel to Kalamazoo, Mich. later this month for the final rounds of the NCAA tournament, with the tournament final to be played on Wednesday, May 22.

Middlebury enters NCAA play as the sixth-ranked team in the nation.

The Panthers open regional play on Saturday, May 11, when they take on the winner of a match between MIT and Simmons to be player the day before.

MIT currently sits in the 22nd spot in the national poll, while Simmons is not in the top 30.

Should they win that match, Middlebury will likely have a rematch with NESCAC foe and national number- five seed Bowdoin in the regional final. The Panthers lost a 5-4 heartbreaker to the Polar Bears in the teams’ last meeting back on April 13.

The Panthers enter the tournament having played each of the top-five seeded teams already this season.