Panthers reign supreme in NESCAC tourney 4-3 victory over Williams cements third consecutive NESCAC championship

Author: Tory Hayes

On Sunday, April 30, the Middlebury men's tennis team seized its third consecutive NESCAC championship, with the tournament culminating in a showdown that should be remembered for quite a while.

After squeaking by Amherst 4-3 on Saturday, the team was ready to face host school Williams in Sunday's championship match. Tied 3-3 heading into the last match of the day, the team looked to co-captain Brian Waldron '06 to close it out.

"Brian's match was very tense - you could probably compare it to Rocky 4," said co-captain Ari Beilin '06, laughing. "Essentially it was a battle of physical endurance - who would cramp the most."

At number-one singles, Waldron was matched up against Dan Greenberg, Williams' top player. After Waldron took the first set 6-3, Greenberg clawed his way back to take the second, 7-5.

That is when things turned ugly, as both players started to cramp - Greenberg in his legs and Waldron in his lower legs, quads and even his hands, making it tough at points to hold his racket.

"It was ridiculous," said George Mayer '07, shaking his head. "I remember at one point Brian was on the run and had to hit a shot left-handed. He showed a lot of heart."

Both Waldron and Greenberg elected to call injury time-outs, but seeing as they were only permitted to do so once, they were forced to play the rest of the match in obvious pain.

But Waldron buckled down and gritted his way through the third and final set, pulling away with a 6-1 victory and a NESCAC championship for his team. "Brian kept running his opponent around, doing all he could," said Mayer. "He showed a lot of courage."

So what's next for the NESCAC champions? Perhaps another shot at the National Championship? "We're not thinking about that right now," said Beilin. "We're just trying to get ready for our next match."

That match comes this Sunday when the top-seeded Panthers will host regionals, most likely taking on Amherst for the third consecutive week, though the Lord Jeffs will first have to take on M.I.T. on Saturday in the regional semifinal. "It's going to be tough," said Mayer. "We beat them 7-0 the first time, but we barely beat them 4-3 last week. They definitely think they can beat us now, so we need to come out more prepared."

As the season wraps up, however, there is change on the horizon for this team. Senior co-captains Waldron, Beilin and Nate Edmunds will graduate at the end of the month, leaving a big hole at the top of the ladder.

But Beilin is not too worried about the team's prospects without him. "We have seven good - really good - freshmen coming in next year," he said. "But there has to be leadership at the top."

Mayer added, "We're losing three guys who are key aspects to this team and have been since freshmen year. Next year's seniors are going to need to step it up."