Tough Draw Curses Women's Tennis to Sixth in NESCAC Tourney

Author: Daniel Shea

Middlebury students love to hate their counterparts down at Williams College. It's a phenomenon that leaves many outsiders a bit confused, given the not insignificant distance that separates the two schools and the existence of a more proximate (and more bitter) rival to Williams in Amherst College.
Strangely, then, to the Middlebury student, when the women's tennis team headed down to Williams College last weekend for the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championships, no Friday drivers in Massachusetts' northwest corner would have heard chants of "Williams sucks!" emanating from their Vermont license-plated van. This makes some sense - such statements about the defending NCAA champion would have the inescapable flavor of sour grapes. Rather, the women saved their ambition for more realistic rivals, namely Tufts University and Bowdoin and Colby Colleges.
Yet Middlebury came home from the 11-school tournament with a sixth place ribbon, one which Wesleyan University also wore, while Tufts, Bowdoin and Colby respectively walked away with third, fourth and fifth prizes. The reason Middlebury fell behind their closest opponents, including one (Colby) who they have beaten this year? When asked, junior Co-captain Sandy Spring blamed not herself or her teammates, but that root of unproductive anger, dumb luck. Spring explained, "We all hit tough seeds in the second round. I was satisfied with everyone's playing, but, still, we could've seized a few more chances."
As every one of those missed opportunities appeared in a match either against Amherst, Williams or Tufts, all of which rank within the top 10 teams nationally, Spring had reason to rue the Middlebury draws: if Bowdoin and Colby did make better use of their chances, it was because their chances were, well, easier to use.
A quick look at the numbers that Bowdoin and Colby had a somewhat unfair leg up over Middlebury: whereas all of the eight Panther singles players lost to a Lady Jeff, Eph or Jumbo (seven of these losses in the second round), and three of the four Midd doubles teams fell in the second round to the self-same opponents, both Bowdoin and Colby had teams from outside that bloc to thank for three of the four second-round wins that each ratcheted.
It doesn't take a statistician's eye to note that Middlebury faced greater odds than Bowdoin and Colby. The other junior Co-captain, Jena Siegel, also pointed an accusatory finger at blind fate, but then added, "Most matches were close . . . we did show that we can play anyone in Division III."
Though speaking about her entire team, in the main it was Siegel herself who proved this assertion well-founded. Siegel and partner Nina Popel '04 beat the second-seeded #2 doubles team of Barclay Gang and Neda Pisheva, the same two Tufts girls who won the #1 doubles contest at last fortnight's Middlebury Invitational.
Squaring off against Amherst's Roopali Agarwal and Hadley Miller in the semi-finals, the Popel-Siegel duo made it clear that they intended to unseat their surprised foes.
Forcing a match point with a score of 7-4, the Middlebury two heeded the cheers of their own teammates as well as those of the Tufts team, who, in a move indicative of the level of familiarity that exists between the Middlebury players and their most evenly-matched opponents, stayed to root for Popel and Siegel. To the dismay of Panther and Jumbo alike, though, the Amherst team was able to mount a comeback and make the trip to the final round. "It was exciting," Spring said of the contest. "But after Nina and Jena's win, we wanted another."
For one last time this season, Spring knows that she'll have another week to get the victory she wants.
Bowdoin will travel east to the Proctor courts this weekend to play the Panthers in the spring's final regular match. Cocksure as ever, the Middlebury crew aims to show Bowdoin that the NESCAC results are part and parcel with the NESCAC draw.
Again reminding the dyed-in-the-Panther-blue-wool Williams-hater how tight Middlebury's rivalry with Bowdoin, Tufts and Colby is, Siegel introduced a factor beyond simple NESCAC retribution to the mix: "We haven't played Bowdoin in a dual match since fall of 2001. They won then. Now we're looking for revenge."