Women's Tennis Falls to Tufts at NCAA Regionals

Author: Daniel Shea

With the suddenly sufferable spring weather in Middlebury comes a time for students to look back upon the accomplishments of the year, and as the members of the women's tennis team look back on their season, they can now see last weekend's bid against Tufts University at the NCAA Regional Tournament planted squarely in their hindsight.
Heading down to host school Williams on a cool Friday night, the Panther dozen was traveling to a familiar destination. Middlebury had come in sixth place at the Williams-hosted New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championships two weeks back.
This was the first time in more than four years that a Middlebury women's tennis team has qualified for the NCAA tournament.
The year had been, in normative terms, a successful one. As both co-captains, juniors Jena Siegel and Sandy Spring, noted, over the course of the just-ended year the individual Panthers were for the first time in recent memory able to subdue many of the league's top players. Despite feeling surprise and poise as many players "realized their potential," as Spring puts it, the upstart Panther team was not perfectly content with its 5-4 record.
Thus, Spring was relieved that her team's NCAAs appearance showed that Middlebury is "a presence" in the wake of a "perhaps unlucky" season-ending 7-2 loss to Bowdoin.
And perhaps there is something irreconcilable in the belief that while one is doing quite well, surprisingly so in fact, one still ought to be doing better. Siegel's "nervous underdogs" thought, as Spring says, "that [they] could win." All this energy was put to good use on the Saturday morning courts as Middlebury took two of the three doubles matches against the nation's number five-ranked team.
The first-team duo of Spring and Ariella Neville '03 overthrew reigning NESCAC champions Jennifer Lejb and Katie Nordstrom. In Spring's words, she and Neville "saw [their] potential into being," and drew their 4-1 lead into an 8-3 victory over a team that had started the match "looking past" Middlebury.
In the number two spot, Siegel, playing with Nina Popel '04, kicked the Barclay Gang-Neda Pisheva team, already down after losing to the Middlebury girls at the NESCAC Championship.
Despite their doubles-play coup, the Middlebury team was not able to establish the friendly Central Vermont dictatorship they wanted over Tufts: the ruling Medford junta fought back in the singles contests with the Jumbos "pulling [it] together," as Siegel notes, for five of the six decisions.
Still, with Lauren Ready's '05 victory, the Middlebury squad was able to win three of the nine possible points - three more than they managed against Tufts in the fall. This progress notwithstanding, Siegel was "disappointed . . . [Middlebury] could've definitely taken a few of the singles matches."
Again, though, this ambition was tempered by the rush of having made a respectable showing at the NCAA Tournament. Returning on a warmer night than that on which they'd left, the team felt, in Spring's assessment, "as though [they'd] won."
Reservations about the number of wins logged this year aside, both Siegel and Spring are looking to achieve unqualified success next year. Attributing the strides Middlebury made this year both to the team as a whole and to the players themselves.
Siegel said, "We have to take this one step at a time. There was a huge difference in our play this year [from last year], and next year we'll hopefully win a few more."
Next season should prove to be an exciting one, as the Panthers are only graduating Neville. With the experience of NESCAC and NCAA tournaments under their belts, the Panthers should be able to cause quite a stir in both leagues.
The team will be comprised of four seniors and three juniors, all of whom have played in top spots this season. Middlebury will only be able to build upon this season of excellence.
Using the fall to hone their individual skills, the spring season should see a solid Panther squad that will be difficult to overcome. A little experience can make a huge difference for a team that will be full of veterans.