Tennis takes title, wins NESCACs for fourth time

Author: Jeff Patterson

The Middlebury men's tennis team is at it again. The Panthers captured their fourth consecutive NESCAC Championship title as they smashed Williams 7-2 on the courts of Amherst College on Sunday morning.

Amherst's courts have been somewhat of a home away from home for Middlebury, as three of the senior class' four league titles have been won there.

"Middlebury had never won NESCACs before our freshman year," wrote Tri-Captain George Mayer '07 in an e-mail. "To win it all four years was definitely an incredible accomplishment."

The weather cooperated and the number-three rated team in the country played to its potential. With Williams having been embarrassed by Middlebury on April 11, losing 8-1, Middlebury had to take on a motivated opponent.

"I feel like we really responded well to a fired-up Williams team," wrote Mayer. "They were way better then when we played them a couple weeks ago, especially in doubles."

Williams' combination of Jeremy Weinberger and Ted Haley beat Middlebury's 11th-ranked doubles team of Conrad Olson '09 and Filip Marinkovic '08, ending their 11-match winning streak that dated back to March 26. The Ephs' duo of Gary Simonette and Nick Lebedoff had Tri-Captain Kevin Bergesen '07 and Andrew Thomson '10 down 4-2 and 5-4, but the Blueshirts came back and won the match's last four games.

"Andrew and I have been successful breaking serve this year, so we knew we were never out of the match," wrote Bergesen. "Williams came out with a ton of energy, but we knew that we were tougher and if we hung in there we would come out on top."

With Mayer and Tri-Captain Alex Scott's '07 8-5 win at number-one doubles, the Panthers held a 2-1 advantage going into the singles matches.

Scott clinched the team's victory when he put the finishing touch on Ted Hanley in the number-one singles match. The win was the team's 14th straight, and it gave Middlebury an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

"It will definitely be tough to go all the way in NCAAs but I think we'll be a tough team to beat," wrote Mayer.

The road to the NESCAC finals was not as tough as it has been in past years. The top-seeded Panthers had received a bye in the first round of the NESCAC tournament, and they said a quick goodbye to host Amherst in the semifinals.

With the team score already at 5-2 and the outcome of the match already decided in Middlebury's favor, Olson and Thomson did themselves a favor by saving their energy for the next day and Williams.

Against the Ephs, Thompson and Olson were the first to finish their singles matches, paving the way for Scott to clinch it. Both won in straight sets by identical scores of 6-2, 6-0.

"Since I played for almost another hour after the match was clinched, I couldn't really take part in any on court celebration," wrote Bergesen. "[But] after the match and during the trophy ceremony, there was definitely a feeling of pride amongst the three senior captains."