Men's tennis comes on strong

Author: James Schwerdtman

The dreary morning of Sept. 21 gave the Middlebury campus its first taste of fall and its first taste of this year's men's tennis team. Over the weekend, eight teams from across the northeast met at the Proctor courts for the Middlebury Invitational, the first and only home tournament for the Panthers this fall. The home crowd was not disappointed, as four Panthers advanced to the semifinals in various singles brackets and another doubles team did the same. While the day did not go quite as well for some as they may have hoped, there was a certain theme about most of the players. Their own individual performances were not as solid as they may have hoped, but they all held high expectations for the capabilities of the team down the road.

The tournament, like all of the fall tournaments for the Panthers, was individual, broken into flights or brackets. The "A" Flight produced two semifinal appearances for Middlebury, from captain Conrad Olson '09 and Andy Peters '11. Olson, who lost 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 in a super breaker, was disappointed with his own efforts, but not discouraged about the team on the whole.

"The spring should be good," said Conrad. "We have three of our top six guys abroad right now, and when we get them back it will reinforce the team. There is a positive outlook."

Peters, who lost 7-5, 4-6, 10-6 to Steven Sullivan of Bowdoin, the eventual winner of Flight "A", shared similar feelings to those of Olson.

"Was I satisfied by my performance? Absolutely not," said Peters. "As a team we did alright. We have a lot of guys coming into form right now, and if we can put it all together, it'll be lights out."

Another bright spot for the Panthers was the strong performances of the first-years. Eric Vehevee '12 won the D Flight handily, going 6-1, 6-4 in the final. David Farah '12 advanced to the semis before losing 4-6, 6-0, 10-8 in Flight "B" and Derrick Angle '11 did the same in Flight C before losing 6-1, 7-5.

The doubles performances went equally as well for the Panthers. Rich Bonfiglio '11 and Mike Mallamy '11 lost 8-6 in the Flight "A" quarterfinals to a tough Bates team. The highlight of the doubles events, however, was Olson and Peters, who lost in a long battle to Williams, 9-8 (4).

"It was a long, back and forth struggle," Bonfiglio said from the sidelines as he watched Olson and Peters. "They played a tough match." Once again, there seemed to be some frustration about these performances, but also a certain optimism.

When the team comes together for group play in the spring and the individual tournaments end, they should be poised to do big things. Finishing fourth in D-III competition in the nation was an accomplishment last season, and having lost only one player, nothing should prevent them from matching or even topping that mark. With the addition of some strong first-year players to fill the gap, there is no reason why competing for a national championship should be a problem in the eyes of the players. If last weekend is to be taken as a sign of things to come, it will likely be a very solid year for the Panthers.