Panthers surge past Bowdoin in comeback classic.

Author: Michael McCormick

After winning three of its last four matches, the Middlebury women's tennis team is in good position going into the NESCAC and NCAA championships. The Panthers have had four matches in April, prevailing in three of these and falling only to Amherst, 6-3. The team narrowly pulled out clutch wins against both Williams and Bowdoin in the last two weeks to help fuel its tournament aspirations.

"This weekend's win against Bowdoin was a true test of our competitiveness and composure as a team," said co-captain Amy Roche '07. "We lost all of our doubles matches, giving Bowdoin a 3-0 lead. We knew that we had to change the momentum of the match and each take care of our individual courts. Everybody rose to the occasion and we ended up winning five out of the six singles matches."

Roche, Emily Holick '07, Amy Berkman '08, Elizabeth Stone '09 and Clare Burke '09 all earned singles victories in the Panthers' 5-4 victory over Bowdoin.

The Panthers also collected a big 5-4 win against Williams on April 15, turning in a more balanced performance than the singles-dominated battle with Bowdoin. Roche, Amanda Berck '08 and Holick all had singles victories, while two duos - Roche and Elizabeth Emery '09, and Holick and Stone - picked up doubles wins.

"Williams is always one of our biggest rivals at NESCAC and especially this year since the two times we have played them the scores have been so close," said Roche.

Going into the NESCAC championship this coming weekend, the Panthers are looking to take top honors.

"We obviously have very high hopes and goals going into NESCACs and it is definitely not unrealistic to think that we could win the tournament," said Roche. "A lot of the wins in the conference could go either way, so it all depends on who comes to play that day."

The Panthers see Amherst and Williams as their two toughest foes at the NESCAC tournament. They split their matches against Williams this year and lost to Amherst in the teams' only match-up of the season. However, Roche and company are confident coming off of their last two victories.

"We've faced some really tough competition from Williams and Bowdoin and prevailed, so I guess we're feeling pretty good gong into NESCACs," said co-captain Maren Messing '06. "We're hoping to come in at least second in the NESCAC, which would be an awesome seeding going into the NCAAs."