Men's tennis was over Williams' head

Author: Jeff Patterson

Outside for the first home tennis match of the spring season, the number-three ranked Middlebury men's tennis team outplayed the out-of-town Williams Ephs, 8-1. The outlook of Wednesday's match was determined right from the outset as the Panthers took all three doubles points from the number-six ranked Ephs.

Middlebury seniors Alex Scott '07 and George Mayer '07, the fourth-ranked pair in the nation, took care of Williams' Daniel Greenberg and Gary Simonette 8-3 in the number-one doubles match, while Kevin Bergesen '07 and Andrew Thompson '10 won their seventh straight match together this spring, beating Williams' number two lineup 8-2.

Conrad Olson '09 and Filip Marinkovic '08, who had a 19-2 record playing together this season coming into the match, reached the 20-win mark after they beat Nick Lebedoff and Jeremy Weinberger 8-5.

"It is always nice to get out to 3-0 lead," wrote Scott in an e-mail. "It definitely shifts the momentum of the match."

"Given that the doubles have so much emphasis placed on them this year, it's an important morale boost to start off taking all three," wrote Marinkovic. "We are confident in our singles ability, but it never hurts taking some wind out of our opponents early."

The Panthers had to cope with the wind and the relatively cold temperatures after practicing all week in Nelson Arena. As the sun went down, so did the temperature.

"Nelson isn't the most ideal venue for hosting teams," wrote Marinkovic, "[but] this might have been one of those days when the shortcomings of Nelson would have been more welcome than not being able to feel my hands or face."