Women’s Tennis Stays Perfect Against MIT

The sixth-ranked Middlebury women’s tennis team grabbed another home win this weekend before its spring break trip in California, beating 17th-ranked MIT 7-2. Middlebury started off the match strong with doubles wins by pairs Alexandra Fields ’17 and Jennifer Sundstrom ’17 and Lauren Amos ’16 and Margot Marchese ’16. Head Coach Mike Morgan commended the first-years for their strong performance in a tough situation.

“[Jennifer Sundstrom] and Alexandra Fields both did a great job,” Morgan said. “Both freshmen fighting off match points is big.”

Leading 2-1, the Panthers moved into singles play, dominating again with five wins and just one loss. Ria Gerger ’16, Kaysee Orozco ’17, Margot Marchese ’16, Dorrie Paradies ’14 and Fields each won in straight sets to boost the Panthers over the Engineers 7-1. The Panthers gave up just one point in singles in the No. 6 spot when Sadie Shackelford ’16 lost to Krystal Lai in three sets.

“The point was to try and get a match that would challenge us a bit to get ready for spring break because we play three top-10 teams while we’re out there,” Morgan said, “So I think it was perfect to get us ready for that next level.”

The win has prepared the Panthers to head into their spring break trip in California with confidence and an undefeated record.

They will head to California next weekend for five matches against west-coast teams Pomona-Pitzer, UC-Santa Cruz, Claremont McKenna, Westmont, and the University of Chicago, all in the course of a week. Assistant Coach Victoria Aiello ’12 highlighted a few of the possible challenges for the trip.

“The one curveball might be that it is  going to be our first time playing outside and we have a match the second day that we get there,” Aiello said, “so that’s definitely going to be a challenge that we’re going to have to work through as we go.”

The Panthers will start off their five-match week of against Pomona-Pitzer on March 22, a challenging match not only because the team has had some big wins recently, but also because of the vastly different environment.

“Because it’s our first time playing outside and right off the jet lag, I think [our game against Pomona/Pitzer] will be a challenge mentally,” Aiello said, “Outside play is a little slower, rallies tend to last longer, and you have all of these other limits: wind, sun, heat.”

These differences may be a welcome change for the Panthers, whose plans to shovel off the outdoor courts here at Middlebury were foiled with the snowstorm this past week.

The Panthers will meet two other ranked opponents over spring break, fifth-ranked Claremont McKenna and the 11th-ranked University of Chicago.

The men’s tennis team did not have a scheduled NCAA game this weekend, but instead played against a team made up of the 2004 and 2010 championship team members in the “Return of the Champions” weekend. Middlebury won its first men’s tennis NCAA title in 2004, and won again in 2010. The weekend should serve as an inspiration to the current team as it heads into its spring break trip in Atlanta, Georgia. The men will play Sewanee on Sunday, March 23.