This past weekend, the Middlebury men’s and women’s tennis teams took to the court in the Wallach Invitational at Bates and the Middlebury Invitational, respectively.
The men’s team had multiple victories as they advanced through the four-flight tournament at Bates. Both Jack Welch ’16 and Cole Sutton ’19 advanced to the semi-final round of the singles “D” flight before falling to Tufts’ Chris Jones (6-1, 6-0) and eventual flight champion Grant Urken (6-2, 6-2), respectively.
In the singles “C” flight, Kyle Schlanger ’18 won three straight matches to advance to the final before falling to Gil Roddy of Bowdoin (3-6, 6-3, 10-5). Peter Martin ’19 also notched a win in the “C” flight, cruising past Jeffrey Cherkin of Brandeis University (6-1, 6-4).
Palmer Campbell ’16 was eliminated from the “A” flight after his first match against Bowdoin’s Luke Tercek, but Campbell advanced to the semis of the flight after a preliminary 6-0, 6-4 win. However, Willian de Quant ’18 lost a hard-fought match against the future champion of the Wallach Invitational, the Bowdoin Polar Bear Luke Trinka, in three sets (2-6, 6-4, 4-10).
Two Panthers often mentioned in the headlines were missing from the weekend. Rather than travel to Bates, Noah Farrell ’18 and Ari Smolyar ’16 competed in the Dartmouth Invitational. Both Farrell and Smolyar held their own against their division one opponents, going 2-1 as a pair. Individually, Farrell also went 2-1, defeating Amherst’s number one player. Smolyar went 1-2 in singles, beating Fairfield University’s number one player before conceding two close matches to top players from Dartmouth and Brown, respectively.
“Playing at Dartmouth was a great opportunity,” Smolyar said. “Noah and I found our rhythm and we were really able to push around our competition.” Both players competed in all matches, but definitely noticed some big differences.
“The speed of our game and the physicality of the points are definitely different. If we weren’t aggressive, we were immediately put on the defensive,” Smolyar continued. “We had to run faster, hit the balls harder and pick better targets to give us a fighting chance.”
Smolyar has made many contributions to the Middlebury tennis program so far. “It’s an honor to be a captain,” he said. “We’re working towards an NCAA Championship, and that’s not something all teams have the opportunity to do. We all hold each other to the same high standards.”
After a second-place finish last year, why not? The team will end their fall season in two weekends at the Boston Invitational hosted by Tufts University.
Meanwhile, the women’s team bounced back from their rough showing two weeks ago at the ITA tournament in the Middlebury Invitational last weekend (Oct. 9-11).
Fighting through the rain on Friday, the Panthers competed against the Williams Ephs, the West Point Black Knights and the Amherst Lord Jeffs both in the Nelson Recreational Center and on the Proctor Tennis Courts.
The invite had a different format and scoring system than a usual tournament; each team had the opportunity to play one another each day in singles and doubles matches.
Middlebury took on Army on Friday. Three Panthers, Christina Puccinelli ’19, Sadie Shackleford ’16 and Lauren Amos ’16, emerged victorious in exciting three-set matches. After falling in the first set (6-7(6)), Puccinelli rolled over Army Cadet Ally Hayley (6-3, 10-3). Shackelford, a veteran four year player on the squad, also started off slow, losing her first set (2-6). However, she picked it up in the next two to oust her Army opponent (7-6 (4), 10-8).
Head Coach Mike Morgan must have encouraged his team to keep their matches exciting, for Amos followed suit, going down early to Sera Martorelli before winning her next two sets (4-6, 7-5, 10-6).
On Saturday, Middlebury took on arch rival Amherst in doubles action. Shackelford partnered up with Lily Bondy ’17, and kept her winning ways going to defeat Lord Jeffs Jackie Calla and Kesley Chen in a riveting (9-8 (2)) thriller. In Middlebury’s six singles matches against Williams on Saturday, only Amos could squeeze out a win against Francesca Eluhu (6-3, 6-0).
On Sunday the Lady Panthers took on Amherst in singles and Williams in doubles. Catherine Miller ’19 squeaked out the team’s sole singles victory of the day (6-3, 7-6 (4)) against Amherst, giving the Panthers something to look forward to in the spring. Middlebury was not able to beat Williams in any of their last three doubles matches of the tournament
Shackelford was happy that her team stepped up on Friday against Army to win three matches in three-set tiebreakers, but expressed that the team did not do as well as they had hoped.
“The tournament was a challenge for us,” Shackelford said. “We were competing without our number one (Ria Gerger ’16), so everyone had to move up and compete in a tougher position. We’re dealing with a much different group than last spring (two juniors are abroad, and three new first-years). We’re super excited to continue to build off of our hard work this fall and grow even more in the off season.”
Shackleford has every reason to remain optimistic, and if the girls continue to work hard, they can make a serious dent on NESCAC and national competition come spring. Middlebury will have some time to hit the courts (and the books) before opening up their spring season on Saturday, March 12 with home dual matches against Hamilton and Bates.
