Men's tennis squashes MIT, Trinity

Author: Jeff Patterson

In Nelson Recreation Center this past weekend, the Middlebury men's tennis team fought with the determination of Nelson Mandela and the fearlessness of Admiral Horatio Nelson and in so doing won back-to-back tournament matches like the golfer Byron Nelson. As a result, the Panthers - like Willie Nelson - had "Something to Brag About."

Forced indoors because of weekend-long rainy weather, the Panthers nonetheless poured it on, blanking MIT 5-0 on Saturday, May 3 and beating Trinity 5-1 the following day.

"It was nice to play inside, because of the temperature," said captain Fil Marinkovic '08, who went 3-0 on the weekend - without having finished his singles match against the Engineers because his teammates had already clinched the shutout victory. "Last time we played Trinity at their place, it couldn't have been more than 45 degrees outside. When it's so cold outside, it's not exactly a fun sport to play. We still pulled it off, though."

Sporting flashy, yellow Reebok sneakers, that were admittedly his "only shoes," on account of wearing through his go-to pair and forgetting to order some new ones, Marinkovic won all of his matches in a flash - needing only 17 games to dispose of Trinity's Brett Ramsay, 6-2, 6-3, in his number-two singles match.

Teaming up with Andrew Thomson '10, Marinkovic helped Middlebury win all three doubles matches on Saturday and two out of three on Sunday.

"The thing about doubles is that it's all about momentum," said Marinkovic. "You have two guys out there and you don't play two sets - you only play a proset up to eight. You really want to come out and win the first couple of games because then the other team starts to get down on themselves and starts to feel the pressure of having to come back, especially with the new system of doubles being worth three points as opposed to just one."

Against MIT's team of Eric Beren and Ken Van Tilburg, Middlebury's tandem got off to a slow start. Beren slammed Marinkovic's opening return, hitting Thomson right below the ankle. From there, the Engineers won the next three points in convincing fashion and took a 1-0 lead. However, Marinkovic followed suit, holding his serve with four consecutive Panther points. After breaking Beren, the Middlebury duo won the next five games to take a 7-1 lead. From there they coasted to an 8-2 victory.

The other Panther doubles teams had tougher times putting away their Massachusetts opponents, but eventually the pair of Andrew Lee '10 and Chris Mason '10 won in a tiebreaker, 11-9, and the duo of Rich Bonfiglio '11 and Andy Peters '11 won without needing a tiebreaker, 9-7.

"It's a huge deal if you win all three doubles," said Marinkovic. "If you lose all three doubles, you have to win five out of six singles matches, which is a pretty tough task for anyone."

Needless to say, MIT could not build such a comeback. After singles wins by Thomson and Peters put Middlebury up 5-0, the Engineers were already mathematically eliminated.

Facing Trinity, the number-one seed in this year's NESCAC tournament, was definitely going to be tougher. Earlier in the year, on April 6, the Panthers lost all three doubles matches to the Bantams and needed what MIT needed - five out of six singles victories in order to escape with an unconventional 5-4 win.

On Sunday, Marinkovic-Thomson and Bonfiglio-Peters victories spotted Middlebury a 2-1 lead that it would never relinquish.

With a crosscourt forehand winner Lee beat Spencer Feldman 6-4, 6-4 and sent Trinity home. Teammate and classmate Thomson jumped on his back for a celebratory piggyback ride.

Straight from the horse's mouth, this horsing around only goes to show that the sophomore from Michigan is back to his normal self. Thomson had been sidelined with a partially torn Achilles since a spring break match with UC Santa Cruz. But now he is back and playing like the number-one ranked doubles player in the country.

"They told him that it was going to take four to six weeks, which would have put him in the lineup just starting now," said Marinkovic. "But somehow he got back a lot earlier and was able to play."

It is not all fun and games, though, for Marinkovic, a double major in economics and biochemistry. At least, not yet.

"Unfortunately, I'm taking five classes right now in order to graduate," he said. "Four of them are major requirements. I've got a lot of work, but when you get on the court, you don't really think about that."

The Panthers have earned the right to take on 13th-ranked Mary Washington - 5-4 winners over fourth-ranked Trinity (Texas) - in the NCAA quarterfinals on May 13 at Bates College. The Eagles were down 4-1 and had their feathers against the wall, but managed to come away with the victory.

"It's nearby, the Northeast, a home away from home," said Marinkovic, "so we'll see what happens."