The Middlebury men’s and women’s tennis teams played a match-packed weekend — the women’s team playing a triple header on Friday, April 21, Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23, and the men’s team playing two matches both days of the weekend. While the women’s team solely played MIT on Friday, both teams faced fellow NESCAC rivals Trinity and Wesleyan over the weekend. The men’s team, while breezing past Trinity on Saturday, fell to eighth ranked Wesleyan on Sunday.The third-ranked women’s team kicked off its weekend of home matches with a 9-0 sweep of no. 22 MIT. Wet weather forced the match inside, but the hosts notched their sixth-straight win regardless. With the weather cooperating on Saturday, the women’s team posted its seventh-straight win with a 9-0 victory over Trinity. The Panthers cruised in straight sets during all six singles wins after putting up all three points during doubles play.
To seal the deal, a strong singles game lifted Middlebury past no. 6 Wesleyan outside on Sunday afternoon. The Panthers were down 2-1 after doubles, but the Panthers rallied back, claiming five of six points in singles.
“It’s been an incredible season so far and we are extremely excited heading into the postseason,” said Molly Paradies ’19. “As the season progresses, we just keep reminding ourselves to stay in the moment and approach our matches one at a time.”
The team reeled three-straight victories to close out the match. Paradies clinched the match at no. 5 with a 7-5, 6-0 win.
“Clinching the match against Wesleyan was an amazing feeling, but my win was only one of the 6 points that earned us the victory,” said Paradies. “It is always a team effort and everyone contributed to that win on Sunday.”
On the men’s side, the team saw mixed results. The top-ranked team breezed past Trinity on Saturday, recording a 9-0 home victory for an eighth-consecutive win, but fell to no. 8 Wesleyan on Sunday.
The visitors were on top after doubles play, winning two of the three matches, but the Panthers fought back when William de Quant ’18 won 6-4, 6-3 at the no. 2 spot.
Lubo Cuba ’19 and de Quant won a tight 9-7 victory at the top spot in doubles, and Cuba also fought back from a set down for a win at no. 1 in singles.
The match was tied 4-4 after the Panthers took away two points with Cuba’s victory and a win from Kyle Schlanger ’18, but went down 5-4 after a hard-fought loss at no. 6.
The Middlebury tennis teams are back in action next weekend away at Amherst, on Saturday, April 29.
Tennis Continues on at Breakneck Pace
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