Tennis Swept Away, Ephs Clean Up at NESCACs

Author: Els Van Woert

It was an exhibition of some the best women collegiate players in the nation this weekend as Middlebury hosted the 11-team NESCAC tennis playoffs. Once again, Williams proved its dominance with a sweep of the three singles and three doubles brackets (earning 35 points) of the tourney, in which over 90 match-ups were played out. Still, the Panthers rallied hard and came out with an impressive placing of fifth with 12 points, within just three points of second-placed Trinity, and just one off from Bowdoin and Tufts who shared a draw in third place.

In the first bracket for singles, Sandy Spring '04 and Lauren Ready '05 made Middlebury proud, continuing on until the initial pack of over 20 women had been narrowed down to eight. Spring earned a fairly easy win over a Hamilton opponent and came away victorious after a three set competition against Bowdoin's top player before falling to a Trinity player that went on to the finals. Ready came into the second round off of a bye and handled a Connecticut College opponent with no trouble before having to face the Williams number one seed and eventual winner Selma Kikic, off of whom she earned four games, when the Trinity opponent could only earn two in the finals.

The second singles bracket included similarly stiff competition, and Middlebury women Kristin Baker '04 and Libby Meyers '04 gave unyielding efforts, giving all until the very end. Baker dominated her first round match against a Connecticut College opponent, fought on successfully in the second round with a tighter 6-3, 7-5 Colby match before falling to Tufts' Iffy Saeed in the quarterfinals. After a first round bye, Meyers gave her usual graceful and strong performance in lengthy heartbreaker versus Bowdoin's Betsy Hayes, winning 7-5 in the first, falling in a tiebreaker in the second, and ending with a tight 4-6 effort. Indicative of the rest of the day, this singles bracket boasted a Williams versus Williams final.

In the last singles bracket, Nina Popel '04 and Jeannie McIntosh '05 were tough, battling Panthers, between them winning seven of the 11 sets they played in five matches. McIntosh waltzed past Connecticut College and Wesleyan opponents in the first two rounds, dropping just seven games in four sets before meeting up with Bowdoin challenger Sanida Kikic. McIntosh fell 1-6 in the first and then rallied well late despite a 4-6 second set score. Popel defeated a Bowdoin opponent 6-3, 6-0 before a big three setter against Williams' Jasmine Bradley, who would go on to win the match and fall only in the finals to yet another Williams player.

Doubles teams of Spring/Popel, Meyers/Siegel and Ready/Baker put up good fights, the latter teams overcoming Hamilton 8-3 and Connecticut College 8-0, respectively, with ease, before Colby, Amherst and Williams would get the best of all Middlebury's doubles match-ups. That all those who overcame the Panthers doubles teams reached either the semifinals or finals of the tournament is telling of what a solid performance was put in. Said first-year standout Lauren Ready of the tournament: "We won the matches we were expected to and played to the best of our ability against the top teams."

Many women had easier matches earlier on and then ran into the most fierce competition of the tournament. All played with the usual heart and finesse and gave very strong performances that allowed Middlebury to place as high as they did for the final result. The women play Smith as a last regular-season match this Friday and are most likely not continuing on to nationals, awarded to a few choice NESCAC teams based on records from the fall and spring. Still, the team has enjoyed great growth this year — and have come to a rewarding pinnacle in placing in the tournament over neck in neck competitors of Colby, Wesleyan and even Amherst, a team currently ranked seventh nationally, and which has made it to the NCAA Final Four over the past four seasons. Congratulations to all the Panthers for their concerted and high-quality efforts this season.