Men's tennis downsizes Tufts Jumbos 7-0

Author: Eri Nosaka

With an impressive week in California it was to be expected that sooner or later the men's tennis team would hit a few bumps along the road. On March 31 the men's tennis team encountered their first loss against Division I Dartmouth College.

The team lost with a score of 5-2, with major contributions and wins from co-captains Ari Beilin '06 and Nate Edmunds '06. Beilin defeated Jeff Schechtman with a score of 6-0, 2-6, 6-1 while Nate Edmunds won against Mark Brodie in straight sets 7-5, 6-2.

The next day, channeling their disappointment from the previous loss, the Middlebury Panthers faced the Tufts Jumbos and creamed them with a score of 7-0.

Although everyone easily won their matches, Brian Waldron '07 at #1 played exceptionally well against Rifat Perahya despite losing the first set. Waldron later went on to beat his opponent 6-0 and 6-4 in the second and third sets.

"I think the Dartmouth match was a bit disappointing because for the first time I think we had a legitimate chance to beat them. We came out a bit flat in doubles, especially Brian and I and lost the doubles point which I think we could have won. I think they [Dartmouth] had some momentum after that and carried it through the singles," said Edmunds.

"As a team I don't think we played that well and we're going to have to step it up if we want to accomplish some of the goals we have for the season. The Tufts match was better and I think we came out with more energy. We were up pretty quickly in all the doubles matches and took over from there," he continued.

Despite some disappointing results in Hanover, N.H the Panthers are willing to overlook their misfortunes as they approach another week of tough matches. Next week the men's team will face Williams College on April 6 at home. The perennial NESCAC foe will undoubtedly bring their top game. Later on in the week the team will travel to play against NESCAC rivals Bowdoin College and Bates College.

"In terms of this week, I think it's the biggest one of the regular season. Williams is huge. We need to play our best match of the year and come out with a lot of energy. This is a rematch of last year's National Championship match and I think all of us would like to make a statement about where we are this year. In terms of Bowdoin and Bates, they are both very solid teams, but that's not even on the radar yet. We really have to just take it one match at a time," said Edmunds about team's upcoming schedule.