Women's tennis bows out to top-seeded Ephs

Author: Alex Lovett Woodsum

The Middlebury women's tennis team earned the third seed for the NESCAC championship this past weekend at Williams College yet ultimately lost to the host team in the semi-finals. Amherst and Williams, the one and two seeds, respectively, each received a first round bye in the tournament.

For their first round, the Middlebury team drew sixth seeded Trinity College, whom they beat 8-1 at Middlebury on April 5th. On the other side of the draw was fourth-seeded Tufts, who Middlebury recently beat, against fifth-seeded Bowdoin, to whom Middlebury lost on April 11th, with the winner of the Middlebury/Trinity matchup playing Williams and the Bowdoin/Tufts winner playing against Amherst.

Due to a late start in the match, singles play took place first, which proved to be all the Middlebury team needed to dispatch Trinity for a second time this season. At the number one spot, Tori Aiello '12 defeated Amanda Tremont of Trinity in a tight 7-5 first set, before pulling away to win 6-1 in the second. The reliable Tri-Captain and graduating senior Chandra Kurien '09 made quick work of Trinity's Arielle Leben, defeating her 6-1, 6-0 in a short match. Fellow captain Liz Stone '09 also soundly defeated her opponent at the number three spot. Trinity's number four player played great tennis against tri-captain Clare Burke '09, upsetting her 7-5, 6-1. Her younger sister Anna Burke '12 had an easier match at number five, as her opponent was unable to get a game off of her in their two sets. Junior Jamie Haar '10 rounded out the match with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Olivia Merns of Trinity. Because the match was played to decision in singles, doubles play did not occur against Trinity.

"The Trinity match was good because we were expected to win and we took care of business," said Aiello.

The following day's match against a fresh Williams team was not as successful for Middlebury, as Williams defeated them 5-0. The dominant Williams number one team of Gibson and Reich defeated Stone and Kurien 8-0 in the first match. The other two matches were much closer, as Baljon and French defeated the Burke sisters 8-6, and Hancock and Alotta defeated Haar and Aiello, who were playing together for the first time in a match, by a score of 9-7. It would only take two more wins for Williams to clinch the victory, and they came at the number three and four spots as Reich defeated Stone 6-1 and 6-0 and Alotta defeated Clare Burke 6-0, 7-5.

"Williams was a little disappointing especially because we lost two of the doubles in really close matches that could have made a difference in the overall outcome," said Aiello.

Despite this loss, the team had a great time at NESCACs and the captains continued to display outstanding leadership.

According to Aiello, "Chandra made really cute cupcakes that were delicious and very clutch in our first round win in the NESCACs. Later that night, Clare forced me to study because I had a paper due that night. Stone has been laughing with me all season at all the immature things I did. Individually and especially combined, the captains are thoughtful, responsible and inspirational people who have left their mark on the team."

On Monday night, the team found out they received an at large bid into NCAAs. "We are all excited that our season is going to continue and that we will have another opportunity to compete," said Clare Burke.

Regarding the future of the team, Aiello said that, "Coach Madson and the team are looking forward to building the program to be number one in the country."