Men's Tennis Edges Out Bates for Trip to Minnesota

Author: David Lindholm

For the Middlebury men's tennis team, their NCAA tournament experience began with a surprise and almost ended in shock. When the Bates College Bobcats took out the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Saturday in Middlebury, it took the Panthers, who had been preparing all week to face M.I.T., slightly by surprise.
Then Bates came out firing again the next day and almost upset the Panthers, ranked third nationally. However, Middlebury fought back and ended up winning a tight, 4-3 match.
On April 13, the Panthers traveled to Lewiston to face Bates, and came away with an easy, 7-0 win. "When we played them earlier," said first-year standout Brian Waldron, "they were on their spring break, and didn't take it that seriously." It showed, as Middlebury came away with a thoroughly dominating performance, with only one player dropping a set on the day.
However, this Sunday, Bates was ready for the challenge. The match started out with the Bobcats taking the doubles point, and an early 1-0 lead, putting the early pressure on the Panthers. However, it quickly turned around as Middlebury won at five and six, with Steve Hulce '03 taking his match 6-1, 6-1, and Jeff Oldenburg '06 giving the Panthers a 2-1 lead with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
"When Hulce won it really energized our guys," said co-captain Stu Brown '04. "And then [Oldenburg] won at the six spot, which was really big. He played a very strong player."
When Justin Ingoglia '05 lost his match to NESCAC Champion William Boe-Wiegaard, it left three first-years to play, needing two wins to advance. Nate Edmunds, Waldron and Ari Beilin, at two, three and four respectively, have been a reliable core for the team despite their inexperience, and the team came to depend on them again on Sunday.
With all three first-years playing at the same time, the tension was palpable outside of Proctor. Waldron won the first set of his match, but Edmunds dropped his first, as did Beilin. The second set was a different story for each player, as Edmunds recovered to win 6-4, Waldron fell 4-6, and Beilin fought off numerous match points to come back and win his second in a tiebreak.
Waldron took a look around him during his match and assessed the situation. "I never doubted Nate winning," he said. "And after Ari came back from being up against match points to win his second set, it really took the pressure off me and I went into the third set without worrying too much about it."
Edmunds' superior fitness caught up with the Bates number two, and he was able to win his third by an easy 6-1 score line. Beilin ran into more trouble, and ended up losing 6-2, but his inspiration of Waldron proved enough for the Panthers to take the win, as the number three won 6-4 to send the Panthers to the NCAA quarterfinals, further than the team had ever gone before.
The team is now in uncharted lands, heading to Minnesota for the NCAA Championship.
The Panthers have a quarterfinal match up against Washington University of St. Louis, and, should both teams keep winning, would meet up with Williams in the Championship match. However, the team does not want to get ahead of themselves.
"We're glad that we're there," said Brown. "And now we're just really excited to be playing some good teams out in Minnesota."
"We've made it this far already, it's the farthest we've ever been, so we'll just try and go for it all," said Waldron. "But we'll definitely be taking it one match at a time."
As for the first match, against Washington, the team does not really know what to expect.
"We know Williams beat them, and looking at them through that result, I think we match up well," says Waldron. "But beyond that, we don't know much about them." No matter the result, the Panthers are still enjoying the most successful season in the program's history, and whatever happens in Minnesota will be a bonus on top of an already great season.